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THE    NOVELS    OF 

FRIEDRICH    SPIELHAGEN. 

l2mo,  cloth,   uniform  in  size  and  style,  per  vol.,  $2.00. 
JUST     PUBLISHED. 

L— PROBLEMATIC  CHARACTERS. 

IL— THROUGH  NIGHT  TO  LIGHT 
III— THE  HOHENSTEINS. 

The  above  translated  by  Prof.  Schele  de  Vere. 

IV.— HAMMER  AND  ANVIL. 

Translated  by  Wm.  Hand  Browne. 
I  N      PRESS. 

v.— IN  RANK  AND    FILE, 

VI— ROSE,    AND    THE    VILLAGE   COQUETTE. 


CRITICAL      NOTICES. 


"  Sncb  a  novel  as  no  English  author  with  whom 
we  are  acquainted  could  hare  written,  and  no 
American  author  except  Hawthorne.  What  separ- 
ates tt  from  the  multitude  or  American  and  English 
novels  Is  the  perfection  of  its  plot,  and  its  author's 

insight  Into  the  souls  of  his  characters 

If  Germany  Is  poorer  than  England,  as  regards  the 
number  of  its  novelists,  it  is  richer  when  we  consi- 
der the  Intellectual  value  of  their  works.  If  it  has 
not  produced  a  Thackeray,  or  a  Diclsens,  it  has  pro- 
duced, we  venture  to  think,  two  writers  who  are 
equal  to  them  In  genius,  and  superior  to  them  In 
the  depth  and  spirituality  of  their  art — Auerbach 
and  Spielhagen." — PutnanCs  Ma'jazint. 

"The  name  Is  suggested  by  a  passage  In  Ooethe, 
which  serves  as  a  motto  to  the  booli.  Sl)lelliagen 
means  to  illustrate  what  Goetlie  speaks  of— natures 
not  In  full  possession  of  themselves,'  who  are  not 
equal  to  any  situation  in  life,  and  wiiom  no  situation 
satlsftes* — the  Hamlet  of  our  latest  civilization.  With 
these  he  deals  In  a  poetic,  ideal  fashion,  yot  also 
with  humor,  and,  what  is  less  to  be  expected  in  a 
Gei'man,  with  sparkling,  flushing  wit,  and  a  cynical 
▼eln  that  reminds  one  of  Heine.  He  has  none  of  the 
tiresome  detail  of  Auerbach,  while  he  iwcks  some- 
what that  excellent  man's  profound  devotion  to  the 
moral  sentiment.  There  is  more  depth  of  passion 
and  of  thought  In  Spielhagen,  together  with  a 
French  liveliness  by  no  means  common  in  German 
novelists.  ...  At  any  rate,  they  are  vastly  supe- 
rior to  the  bulk  of  English  novels  which  are  annual- 
ly pomed  out  upon  us — as  much  above  Trollope's  as 
Stelnbergor  Cabinet  Is  better  than  London  porter. — 
Sprinufi^ld  Republican. 


"  The  reader  Uvea  among  them  (the  characters)  as 
he  does  among  his  acquaintances,  and  may  plead 
each  one's  case  as  plausibly  to  his  own  |ndgmont  as 
he  can  those  of  the  men  whose  mixed  motives  and 
actions  he  sees  around  him.  In  other  words,  these 
characters  live,  they  are  men  and  women,  and  tJie 
whole  mystery  of  humanity  is  upon  eacli  of  thorn. 
Has  no  superior  in  German  romance  for  its  en- 
thusiastic and  lively  descriptions,  and  for  the 
dignity  and  the  tenderness  with  wliich  its  leading 
characters  are  invested." — Neto  Vork  Kt-.tutuu  I'oxt. 

"  Ue  strikes  with  a  blow  like  a  blacksniitli,  mak- 
ing the  sparks  fly  and  the  anvil  ring.  Terse, 
Eolnted,  brilliant,  rapid,  and  no  dreamer,  lie  has  tlie 
est  traits  of  the  French  manner,  wlille  in  earnest- 
ness and  fulness  of  matter  he  is  thoroughly  German. 
One  sees,  moreover,  in  his  pages,  how  powerful  Is 
the  impression  which  America  has  of  late  been 
making  upon  the  mind  of  Europe."— iJosfo/i  Com 
montoealth. 

"The  work  is  one  of  immense  vigor;  the  characters 
are  e.xtraordiiiary,  yet  not  unnatural  ;  ilie  plot  is 
the  sequence  of  an  admirably-sustained  web  of  in- 
cident and  action.  The  portraitures  of  character- 
istic foibles  and  peculiarities  remind  one  mucli  of 
the  masterhand  of  the  great  Thackeray.  The 
author  Spielhagen  In  Germany  ranks  very  imicli  as 
Thackeray  does  with  us,  and  many  of  his  Eiiglisli 
reviewers  place  him  at  the  head  and  front  of  Oer 
man  novelists."—  Pro]/  Datty  Times. 

"  His  characters  have,  perha|)8,  more  passion,  ami 
act  their  parts  with  as  much  dramatic  effect  as 
those  which  have  passed  under  the  hand  of  Auer 
bach."— Wiict/inriH  Chronicle. 


The  N.  Y.  Times,  of  Oct.  23d,  in  a  long  Review  of  the  above  two  works,  says  :  "  The  descriptions  of 
nature  and  art,  the  portrayals  of  character  and  emotion,  are  always  striking  and  truthful.  As  one  reads, 
there  grows  upim  him  gradually  the  conviction  that  this  is  one  of  tlie  greatest  of  woi  ks  of  fiction.  .  .  ] 
No  one,  that  is  not  a  pure  egoiste,  can  read  I'lOblemaHc  Characters  without  profound  and  even  soleniu 
interest.  It  Is  altogether  a  tragic  work,  the  tragedy  of  the  nineteenth  centnry— greater  in  its  truth  and 
earnestness,  and  absence  of  Ilnooe-ie  affectation,  than  any  tragedy  the  century  has  produced.  It  stands 
far  above  any  of  the  productions  of  either  Fret/tag  or  Auerbach. 


LEYPOLDT   &-   HOLT,    Publishers, 

25    BOND   ST.,    NEW    YORK. 


.  .i  >' J  ^&agi^^»&^^^: '  -. 


'w^ailjp^j^ir'  "^J?^'^*^»ff'5S8iJ5l?yg»"<!^S^^!S^g-T^~'»<s^^ 


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AMMER    AN 


D     A 


NVIL 


A  Novel 


BY 


FRIEDRICH     SPIELHAGEN 


Author  s  Edition. 


NEW   YORK 

LEYPOLDT   &    HOLT 

25    Bond    Str:eet 

1870. 


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.3*3' ijiiiiitElMi'i.ii. 


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AMMER    AND 


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A   NOVEL 


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Friedrich  Spielhagen 


FROM  THE  GERMAN 


BY 


WILLIAM  HAND  BROWNE 


Author's  Edition. 


NEW  YORK 

LEYPOLDT  &  HOLT 

25  Bond  Street 

1870. 


tiV"'iVr"^hi'iVr^il^^fitfr«^i-^"r '  ^'^  -i^-iiil-r,  ,  ■ 'V'i'ikt^iF^i^ iii<'!'y ' ' 


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Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

LEYPOLDT    &    HOLT, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED  BY 

DENNIS    BRO'S  &    THORNE, 

AUBURN,  N.   Y. 


PRESS  OF 

The  New  York  Printing  Company 

81,  83,  andZs  Centre  Street, 

New  York. 


Hammer   and  Anvil, 

Part    First. 


sd 


CHAPTER  I. 

WE  were  standing  in  a  deep  recess  at  the  open  window 
of  our  class-room.  The  sparrows  were  noisily  chat- 
tering in  the  school-yard,  and  some  scattered  rays 
of  the  late  summer  sun  glanced  past  the  old  gray  walls  down 
to  the  grass-grown  pavement;  from  the  class-room,  which 
was  high-ceilinged,  sunless,  and  ill-ventilated,  came  -the  buz- 
zing sound  of  repressed  talk  from  our  schoolfellows,  who 
were  all  in  their  places,  bent  over  their  Sophocles,  and 
watching  for  the  arrival  of  the  "  old  man,"  who  was  looked 
for  every  moment. 

'  At  the  worst,  you  can  shuffle  through  somehow,"  I  was 
saying,  when  the  door  opened  and  he  came  in. 
^      Ife — Professor  Lederer,  Provisory  Director  of  the  Gymnas- 
ium, and  Ordinarius  of  the  first  form,*  "  the  old  man,"  as  we 
i.  used  to  call  him — was  in  reality  not  exactly  old,  but  a  man 
^  past  the  middle  of  the  forties,  whose  small  head,  already  turn- 
y  ing  gray,  rested  upon  a  stiff  white  cravat,  and  whose  tall  and 
-*-  extraordinarily  lean  figure  was  buttoned  up,  from  one  year's 
^-^  end  to  the  other,  summer  and  winter,  in  a  coat  of  the  finest 
and  glossiest  black.     His  slender  hands,  of  which  he  took 
extreme  care,  with  their  long  and  tapering  fingers — when 
Q  twitching  nervously,   as  they  had  a  habit  of   doing,  close 
•e©  under  my  eyes — had  always  a  sort  of  fascination  for  me, 
—  and  more  than  once  I  could  scarcely  resist  the  temptation 
to  seize  one  of  those  artistic-looking  hands  and  crush  it  in 
_^  my  own  coarse  brown  fist. 

«       Professor   Lederer  always  paced  the  distance  from  the 
«  door  to  his  desk  in  twelve  measured,  dignified  strides,  head 

V       *  "  Ordinarius,"  the  professor  charged  with  the  especial  instruction  of  any 
t  ly  class.     "  The  Prima,"  or  first  form,  corresponds  to  the  sixth  or  highest  form  in 
an  English  public  school. — Tr. 


142430 


2  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

and  eyes  a  little  drooped,  with  the  austere  look  of  inten- 
sest  meditation ;  like  a  priest  approaching  the  sacrifi- 
cial altar,  or  a  Caesar  entering  the  senate — at  all  events  like 
a  being  who,  far  removed  from  the  modern  plebeian  sphere, 
walked  day  by  day  in  the  light  of  the  sun  of  Homer,  and 
was  perfectly  aware  of  the  majestic  fact.  So  it  was  never  a 
judicious  proceeding  to  try  to  detain  this  classical  man  upon 
this  short  journey,  and  in  most  cases  a  prohibitory  gesture 
of  his  hand  checked  the  attempt ;  but  the  sanguine  Ar- 
thur was  so  sure  that  his  request  would  not  be  refused,  that 
he  ventured  it,  reckless  of  further  consequences.  So,  step- 
ping out  in  front  of  the  professor,  he  asked  for  a  holiday 
for  the  day,  which  was  Saturday. 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  the  professor. 

"  To  go  sailing,"  urged  Arthur,  not  in  the  least  deterred 
by  the  stern  tone  of  the  professor,  for  my  friend  Arthur  was 
not  easily  abashed — "  to  go  in  my  uncle's  steamboat  to  ex- 
amine the  oyster-beds  which  my  uncle  planted  two  years  ago. 
I  have  a  note  from  my  father,  you  know,  professor,"  and  he 
produced  the  credential  in  question. 

"  Certainly  not !  "  repeated  the  professor.  His  pale  face 
flushed  a  little  with  irritation  ;  his  white  hand,  from  which 
he  had  drawn  his  black  glove,  was  extended  towards  Arthur 
with  a  classical  minatory  gesture  ;  his  blue  eyes  deepened  in 
hue,  like  the  sea  when  a  cloud-shadow  passes  over  it. 

"  Certainly  not !  "  he  exclaimed  for  the  third  time,  strode 
past  Arthur  to  his  desk,  and  after  silently  folding  his  white 
hands,  explained  that  he  was  too  much  excited  to  begin  with 
the  customary  prayers.  And  presently  followed  a  stammer- 
ing philippic — the  professor  always  stammered  when  irritat- 
ed— against  that  pest  of  youth,  worldliness  and  hankering 
after  pleasure,  which  chiefly  infected  precisely  those  upon 
whom  rested  the  smallest  portion  of  the  spirit  of  Apollo  and 
Pallas  Athene.  "  He  was  a  mild  and  humane  man,"  he 
said,  "  and  well  mindful  of  the  words  of  the  poet,  that  it  was 
well  to  lay  seriousness  aside  at  the  proper  time  and  place  ; 
ay,  even  at  times  to  quaff"  the  wine-cup  and  move  the  feet  in 
the  dance ;  but  then  the  cause  should  be  sufficient  to  justify 
the  license — a  Virgil  must  have  returned  from  a  far-off  land, 
or  a  Cleopatra  have  freed  the  people  from  imminent  peril  by 
her  voluntary,  yet  involuntary  death.     But  how  could  any 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  3 

one  who  notoriously  was  one  of  the  worst  scholars — yes, 
might  be  styled  absolutely  the  worst,  unless  one  other" — here 
the  professor  gave  a  side-glance  at  me — "  could  claim  this 
evil  pre-eminence — how  could  such  a  one  dare  to  clutch  at  a 
garland  which  should  only  encircle  a  brow  dripping  with  the 
sweat  of  industry  !  Was  he,  the  speaker,  too  strict  ?  He 
thought  not.  Assuredly,  no  one  could  wish  it  more  ear- 
nestly than  he,  and  no  one  would  rejoice  more  heartily  than 
he,  if  the  subject  of  his  severe  rebuke  would  even  now  give 
the  proof  of  his  innocence  by  translating  without  an  error 
the  glorious  chorus  of  the  Antigone,  which  was  the  theme  of 
the  morning's  lecture.     Von  Zehren,  commence  !  " 

Poor  Arthur  !  I  still  see,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years, 
his  beautiful,  but  even  then  somewhat  worn  face,  striving  in 
vain  to  hold  fast  upon  its  lips  the  smile  of  aristocratic  indif- 
ference with  which  he  had  listened  to  the  professor's  rebuke, 
as  he  took  the  book  and  read,  not  too  fluently,  a  verse  or 
two  of  the  Greek.  Even  in  this  short  reading  the  scornful 
smile  gradually  faded,,  and  he  glanced  from  under  his 
dropped  lids  a  look  of  beseeching  perplexity  towards  his 
neighbor  and  Pylades.  But  how  was  it  possible  for  me  to 
help  him  ;  and  who  knew  better  than  he  how  impossible  it 
was.-*  So  the  inevitable  came  to  pass.  He  turned  the 
"shaft  of  Helios  "  into  a  "shield  of -^olus,"  and  blundered 
on  in  pitiable  confusion.  The  others  announced  their  better 
knowledge  by  peals  of  laughter,  and  a  grim  smile  of  triumph 
over  his  discomfiture  even  played  over  the  grave  features  of 
the  professor. 

"  The  curs  !  "  muttered  Arthur  with  white  lips,  as  he  took 
his  seat  after  the  recitation  had  lasted  a  couple  of  minutes. 
"  But  why  did  you  not  prompt  me  ? " 

I  had  no  time  to  answer  this  idle  question,  for  it  was  now 
my  turn.  But  I  h^d  no  notion  of  making  sport  for  my  com- 
rades by  submitting  to  be  classically  racked  ;  so  I  declared 
that  I  was  even  less  prepared  than  my  friend,  and  added 
that  I  trusted  this  testimony  would  corroborate  the  charge 
that  the  professor  had  been  pleased  to  bring  against  me. 

I  accompanied  these  words  with  a  threatening  look  at  the 
others,  which  at  once  checked  their  mirth  ;  and  the  professor, 
either  thinking  he  had  gone  far  enough,  or  not  deigning  to 
notice  my  insolent  speech,  turned  away  with  a  shrug  of  the 


4  Hammer  vnd  Anvil. 

shoulders,  and  contented  himself  with  treating  us  with  silent 
contempt  for  the  rest  of  the  recitation,  while  towards  the 
others  he  was  unusually  amiable,  enlivening  the  lesson  by- 
sallies  of  the  most  classical  and  learned  wit. 

No  sooner  had  the  door  closed  behind  him,  than  Arthur 
stood  up  before  the  first  form  and  said  : 

"  You  fellows  have  behaved  meanly  again,  as  you  always 
do  ;  but  as  for  me,  I  have  no  notion  of  staying  here  any 
longer.  The  old  man  will  not  be  back  any  more  to-day ; 
and  if  the  others  ask  for  me,  say  I  am  sick." 

"  And  for  me  too,"  cried  I,  stepping  up  to  Arthur  and  lay- 
ing my  arm  on  his  shoulder.  "  I  am  going  with  him,  A 
fellow  that  deserts  his  friend  is  a  sneak." 

,  A  moment  later  we  had  dropped  from  the  window  twelve 
feet  into  the  yard,  and  crouching  between  two  buttresses  that 
the  professor  might  not  espy  us  as  he  went  out,  we  consulted 
what  was  next  to  be  done. 

There  were  two  ways  of  getting  out  of  the  closed  court  in 
which  we  now  were  :  either  to  slip  through  the  long  crooked 
corridors  of  the  gymnasium — an  old  monastery — 'and  so  out 
into  the  street;  or  to  go  directly  through  the  professor's 
house,  which  joined  the  yard  at  one  corner,  and  thence  upon 
the  promenade,  which  nearly  surrounded  the  town,  and  had 
in  fact  been  constructed  out  of  the  old  demolished  town- 
walls.  The  first  course  was  hazardous,  for  it  often  happened 
that  a  pair  of  teachers  would  walk  up  and  down  the  cool 
corridors  in  conversation  long  after  the  regular  time  for  the 
commencement  of  the  lessons,  and  we  had  no  minute  to  lose 
in  waiting.  The  other  was  still  more  dangerous,  for  it  led 
right  through  the  lion's  den  ;  but  it  was  far  shorter,  and 
practicable  every  moment,  so  we  decided  to  venture  it. 

Creeping  close  to  the  wall,  right  under  the  windows  of  our 
class-room,  in  which  the  second  lesson  had  already  begun, 
we  reached  the  narrow  gate  that  opened  into  the  little  yard 
of  the  professor's  house.  Here  all  was  quiet ;  through  the 
open  door  we  could  see  into  the  wide  hall  paved  with  slabs  of 
stone,  where  the  professor,  who  had  just  returned,  was  play- 
ing with  his  youngest  boy,  a  handsome  black-haired  little 
fellow  of  six  years,  chasing  him  with  long  strides,  and  clap- 
ping his  white  hands.  The  child  laughed  and  shouted,  and 
at  one  time  ran  out  into  the  yard,  directly  towards  where  we 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  5 

were  hidden  behind  a  pile  of  firewood — two  more  steps  of 
the  little  feet,  and  we  should  have  been  detected. 

I  have  often  thought,  since  that  time,  that  on  those  two 
little  steps,  in  reality,  depended  nothing  less  than  the  whole 
destiny  of  my  life.  If  the  child  had  discovered  us,  we  had 
only  to  come  forward  from  behind  the  wood-pile,  which 
every  one  had  to  pass  in  going  from  the  gymnasium  to  the 
director's  house,  as  two  scholars  on  their  way  to  their  teacher 
to  ask  his  pardon  for  their  misbehavior.  At  least  Arthur  con- 
fessed to  me  that  this  idea  flashed  into  his  mind  as  the  child 
came  towards  us.  Then  there  would  have  been  another  rep- 
rimand, but  in  a  milder  tone,  for  the  professor  was  a  kind 
man  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart ;  we  should  have  gone  back 
to  the  class-room,  pretended  to  our  schoolmates  that  our 
running  away  was  only  a  joke,  and — well,  I  do  not  know 
what  would  have  happened  then ;  certainly  not  what  really 
did  happen. 

But  the  little  trotting  feet  did  not  come  to  us  ;  the  father, 
following  with  long  strides,  caught  the  child  and  tossed  it  in 
the  air  till  the  black  curls  glistened  in  the  sunshine,  and  then 
carried  it  back,  caressing  it,  to  the  house,  where  Mrs.  Pro- 
fessor now  appeared  at  the  door,  with  her  hair  in  papers,  and 
a  white  apron  on  ;  and  then  father,  mother,  and  child  disap- 
peared. Through  the  open  door  we  could  see  that  the  hall 
was  empty — now  or  never  was  the  time. 

With  beating  hearts,  such  as  only  beat  in  the  breasts  of 
school-boys  bent  on  some  dangerous  prank,  we  stole  to  the 
door  through  the  silent  hall  where  the  motes  were  sparkling  in 
the  sunbeams  that  slanted  through  the  gothic  windows.  As 
we  opened  the  house-door,  the  bell  gave  a  clear  note  of  warn- 
ing ;  but  even  now  the  leafy  trees  of  the  promenade  were 
beckoning  to  us  ;  in  half  a  minute  we  were  concealed  by  the 
thick  bushes,  and  hastening  with  rapid  steps,  that  now  and 
then  quickened  to  a  half  run,  towards  the  port. 

"  What  will  you  say  to  your  father  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Nothing  at  all,  because  he  will  ask  no  questions,"  Ar- 
thur replied  ;  "  or  if  he  does,  I  will  say  that  I  was  let  off ; 
what  else  ?     It  will  be  capital ;  I  shall  have  splendid  fun." 

We  kept  on  for  a  while  in  silence.  For  the  first  time  it 
occurred  to  me  that  I  had  run  away  from  school  for  just 
nothing  at  all.     If  Arthur  came  in  for  a  couple  of  da5^s  in  the 


6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

dungeon,  he,  at  all  events,  would  have  had  "  splendid  fun," 
and  thus,  for  him  at  least,  there  was  some  show  of  reason  in 
the  thing.  His  parents,  too,  were  very  indulgent ;  his  share 
of  the  danger  was  as  good  as  none,  while  I  ran  all  the  risk 
of  discovery  and  punishment  without  the  least  compensa- 
tion ;  and  my  stern  old  father  was  a  man  who  understood  no 
trifling,  least  of  all  in  matters  of  this  sort.  So  once  again, 
as  many  times  before,  I  had  helped  to  pull  the  chestnuts  out 
of  the  fire  for  somebody  else.  However,  what  did  it  mat- 
ter ?  Here,  under  the  rustling  trees,  after  our  brisk  race,  it 
was  more  pleasant  than  in  the  stifling  class-room  ;  and  for 
me,  in  those  times,  every  silly,  venturesome  frolic  had  a 
pleasure  in  itself.  So  I  felt  it  a  special  piece  of  magna- 
nimity on  the  part  of  my  usually  selfish  friend,  when  he  sud- 
denly said  : 

"  Look  here,  George,  you  shall  come  too.  Uncle  charged 
me  particularly  to  bring  as  many  friends  as  I  could.  I  tell 
you  it  will  be  splendid.  Elise  Kohl  and  Emilie  Heckepfen- 
nig  are  going  with  us.  For  once  I  shall  leave  Emilie  to  you. 
And  then  the  oysters,  and  the  champagne,  and  the  pine- 
apple punch — yes,  you  certainly  must  come." 

"  And  my  father  .-'  "  I  said  ;  but  I  only  said  it,  for  my  reso- 
lution to  be  one  of  the  party  was  already  taken.  Emilie 
Heckepfennig — Emilie,  with  her  little  turned-up  nose  and 
laughing  eyes,  who  had  always  shown  me  a  decided  prefer- 
ence ;  and  recently,  at  forfeits,  had  given  me  a  hearty  kiss, 
to  which  she  was  in  no  wise  bound,  and  whom  Arthur,  the 
coxcomb,  was  going  to  leave  especially  to  me  !  Yes,  I  must 
go  along,  happen  what  might. 

"  Can  I  go  as  I  am,  do  you  think  ?  "  I  asked,  suddenly 
halting,  with  a  glance  at  my  dress,  which  was  plain  and  neat, 
it  is  true — I  was  always  neat — but  not  exactly  the  thing  for 
company. 

"Why  not?"  said  Arthur.  "What  difference  does  it 
make?     And,  besides,  we  have  not  a  minute  to  spare." 

Arthur,  who  was  in  his  best  clothes,  had  not  looked  at 
me,  nor  slackened  his  pace  in  the  least.  We  had  not  a  min- 
ute to  spare,  that  was  true  enough,  for  as  slipping  through 
some  narrow  alleys  we  reached  the  harbor,  we  heard  the  bell 
ringing  on  board  the  steamer  that  was  lying  at  the  wharf 
just  ready  to  start.     The  sturdy  figure  of  the  captain  was 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  7 

seen  standing  upon  the  paddle-box.  We  pushed  through  the 
crowd  on  the  wharf,  ran  up  the  gang-plank,  which  they  were 
just  hauling  in,  and  mingled  with  the  gay  throng  on  deck,  as 
the  wheels  began  to  turn. 


CHAPTER    II. 

"  T  TOW  you  startled  me  !  "  said  Frau  von  Zehren,  seizing 

JLJL     her  son  by  both  hands.     "  We  began  to  think,  what 

was  really  impossible,  that  Professor  Lederer  had 

refused  you  permission.     You  see  now,  Zehren,  that  I  was 

right." 

"  Well,  it  is  all  right  now,"  replied  the  steuerrath.*  "The 
young  ladies  were  inconsolable  at  the  prospect  of  your  ab- 
sence Arthur — or  am  I  saying  too  much,  Fraulein  Emilia 
and  Fraulein  Elise  ?  "  and  the  steuerrath  turned  with  a  po- 
lite wave  of  his  hand  to  the  young  ladies,  who  tittered  and 
nodded  their  dark  broad-brimmed  straw-hats  at  each  other, 
"  And  now  you  must  speak  to  your  uncle,"  he  went  on  ; 
"  but  where  is  your  uncle,  then  ?  "  and  he  ran  his  eye  over  the 
company  that  was  moving  about  the  deck. 

The  Commerzienrath  Streber  came  bouncing  up.  His 
little,  light-blue  eyes  glittered  under  bushy  gray  brows,  the 
long  peak  of  his  old-fashioned  cap  was  pushed  back  from 
his  bald  forehead,  the  left  sleeve  of  his  loose  blue  frock-coat, 
with  gold  buttons,  had  slipped  half  off  his  shoulder,  as  he 
hurried  along  on  his  little  legs,  cased  in  yellow  nankeen 
trousers : 

"  Where  has  that  rascal  John  put  the ? " 

"  Allow  me,  brother-in-law,  to  present  my  Arthur  ■ 


Very  good,"  cried  the  commerzienrath,  without  even 
giving  a  look  at  the  presentee.  "  Aha !  there  the  villain 
is !  "  and  he  made  a  dart  at  his  servant,  who  was  just  com- 
ing up  the  companion-way  with  a  tray  of  glasses. 

*  "  Steuerrath,"  Councillor  of  Customs,  the  title   of  an  official,  is  is  also 
Commerzienrathj"  Councillor  of  Commerce,  in  the  next  paragraph. — Tr. 


8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

The  steuerrath  and  his  lady  exchanged  a  look,  in  which 
"  the  old  brute,"  or  some  similarly  flattering  expression,  was 
plainly  legible.  Arthur  had  joined  the  young  ladies  and 
said  something  at  which  they  burst  out  laughing  and  rapped 
him  with  their  parasols  ;  I,  whom  nobody  seemed  to  notice, 
turned  away  and  went  on  the  more  quiet  forward  deck, 
where  I  found  a  seat  upon  a  coil  of  rope,  and  leaning  my 
back  against  the  capstan,  looked  out  upon  the  bright  sky 
and  the  bright  sea. 

In  the  meantime  the  boat  had  left  the  harbor,  and  was 
moving  down  with  the  coast  on  our  larboard,  where  the  red 
roofs  of  the  fishermen's  cottages  shone  through  the  trees 
and  bushes  ;  while  on  the  narrow  strip  of  level  beach  here 
and  there  figures  were  seen,  seafaring  folks  probably,  or  sea- 
bathers,  who  were  watching  the  steamer  go  by.  To  our  right 
the  shore  receded,  so  that  it  was  only  just  possible  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  water  ;  before  us,  but  at  a  still  more  remote 
distance,  gleamed  the  chalk-coast  of  the  neighboring  island 
over  the  blue  expanse  of  sea,  which  now  began  to  roughen 
a  little  under  a  fresher  breeze,  while  countless  flocks  of  sea- 
birds  now  flew  up  from  the  approach  of  the  pufiing  steamer, 
and  now,  with  their  cunning  heads  turned  towards  us,  sported 
on  the  waves  and  filled  the  air  with  their  monotonous  cries. 

It  was  a  bright  and  lovely  morning ;  but  though  I  saw  its 
beauty,  it  gave  me  no  pleasure.  I  felt  singularly  dejected. 
Had  the  Penguifi  that,  with  a  sluggishness  altogether  at 
variance  with  her  name,  was  slowly  toiling  through  the  water, 
been  a  beautiful  swift  clipper,  bound  for  China  or  Buenos 
Ayres,  or  somewhere  thousands  of  miles  away,  and  I  a  pas- 
senger with  a  great  purse  of  gold,  or  even  a  sailor  before  the 
mast,  with  the  assurance  that  I  should  never  again  set  eyes 
on  the  hateful  steeples  of  my  native  town,  I  should  have 
been  light-hearted  enough.  But  now  !  what  was  it  then  that 
made  me  so  low-spirited  ?  The  consciousness  of  my  dis- 
obedience ?  Dread  of  the  disagreeable  consequences,  now, 
to  all  human  foresight,  inevitable  ?  Nothing  of  the  sort. 
The  worst  could  only  be  that  my  stern  father  would  drive 
me  from  his  house,  as  he  had  already  often  enough  threat- 
ened to  do  ;  and  this  possibility  I  regarded  as  a  deliverance 
from  a  yoke  which  seemed  to  grow  more  intolerable  every 
day ;  and  as  the  idea  arose  in  my  mind,  I  welcomed  it  with 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  g 

a  smile  of  grim   satisfaction.     No,  it  was  not  that.     What 
then  ? 

Well,  to  have  run  away  from  school  with  an  ardor  as  if 
some  glorious  prize  was  to  be  won,  and  then,  in  a  merry- 
company,  on  the  deck  of  a  steamboat,  to  sit  away  by  myself 
.  on  a  coil  of  rope,  not  one  of  the  gentlemen  or  ladies  taking 
the  slightest  notice  of  me,  and  with  not  even  the  prospect 
that  the  waiter,  with  the  caviar-rolls  and  port  wine,  would  at 
last  come  round  to  me  !  This  last  neglect,  to  tell  the  honest 
truth,  for  the  moment  afflicted  me  most  sorely  of  all.  My 
appetite,  as  was  natural  for  a  robust  youth  of  nineteen,  was 
always  of  the  best,  and  now  by  the  brisk  run  from  school  to 
the  harbor  and  the  fresh  sea-breeze,  it  was  sharpened  to  a 
distressing  keenness. 

I  stood  up  in  a  paroxysm  of  impatience,  but  quickly  sat 
down  again.  No,  Arthur  certainly  would  come  and  take  me 
to  the  company ;  it  was  the  least  that  he  owed  rae,  after  I 
had  been  so  obliging  as  to  run  away  with  him.  As  if  he  had 
ever  yet  paid  me  what  he  owed  me  !  How  many  fishing-rods, 
canary  birds,  shells,  fifes,  pocket-knives,  had  he  not  already 
bought  of  me,  that  is,  coaxed  and  worried  me  out  of,  without 
ever  paying  me  for  them.  Ay,  how  often  had  he  not  bor- 
rowed my  slender  stock  of  pocket-money,  whenever  the 
amount  made  it  worth  his  while  ;  for  which  sometimes  even 
a  couple  of  silbergroschen  sufficed. 

Curious,  that  just  now,  on  this  bright  sunny  morning,  I 
should  take  to  reckoning  up  this  black  account !  It  was  cer- 
tainly the  first  time  since  the  beginning  of  our  friendship, 
which  dated  at  least  from  our  sixth  year.  For  I  had  always 
loved  the  handsome  slender  boy,  who  had  such  sunny  hair 
and  gentle  brown  eyes,  and  whose  velvet  Sunday  jacket  felt 
so  soft  to  the  touch.  I  had  loved  him  as  a  great  rough  mas- 
tiff might  love  a  delicate  greyhound  that  he  could  crush 
with  one  snap  of  his  jaws  ;  and  so  I  loved  him  even  now, 
while  he  was  flirting  with  the  girls,  and  chattering  and  laugh- 
ing with  the  company  like  the  petit  maitre  he  was. 

I  grew  very  melancholy  as  I  watched  all  this  from  my 
place,  where  nobody  could  see  me — very  melancholy  and 
altogether  disspirited.     I  must  have  been  very  hungry. 

We  were  now  just  rounding  a  long  headland,  which  ran 
out  from  the  western  coast.     At  its  farthest  low  extremity, 
I* 


TO  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

in  a  spot  entirely  surrounded  by  water,  separated  by  a  wide 
interval  from  the  row  of  houses  on  the  dune,  and  shadowed 
by  a  half-decayed  oak,  stood  a  cottage,  the  sight  of  which 
called  into  my  mind  a  flood  of  pleasant  memories.  The  old 
blacksmith,  Pinnow,  lived  there,  the  father  of  my  friend 
Klaus  Pinnow.  Smith  Pinnow  was  by  far  the  most  remark- 
able personage  of  all  my  acquaintance.  He  possessed  four 
old  double-barreled  percussion  guns,  and  a  long  single-barrel- 
ed fowling-piece  with  a  flint  lock,  which  he  used  to  hire  to  the 
bathers  when  they  took  a  fancy  to  have  a  little  shooting,  and 
sometimes  to  us  youngsters  when  we  were  in  funds,  for 
Smith  Pinnow  was  not  in  the  habit  of  conferring  gratuitous 
favors.  He  had,  besides,  a  great  sail-boat,  also  kept  for  the 
bathing  company,  at  least  of  late  years,  since  he  had  grown 
half  blind  and  could  not  venture  longer  trips.  The  rumor 
ran  that  formerly  he  used  to  make  very  different  voyages,  of 
by  no  means  so  innocent  a  character  ;  and  the  excise  officers, 
my  father's  colleagues  (my  father  had  lately  been  promoted 
to  an  accountantship)  shook  their  heads  when  Smith  Pin- 
now's  by-gone  doings  happened  to  be  referred  to.  But  what 
was  that  to  us  youngsters  .''  Especially,  what  was  it  to  me, 
who  owed  the  happiest  hours  of  my  life  to  the  four  rusty 
guns,  and  the  fowling-piece,  and  Smith  Pinnow's  old  boat, 
and  who  had  had  the  best  comrade  in  the  world  in  Klaus 
Pinnow .?  Had  had,  I  say,  for  during  the  last  four  years, 
while  Klaus  was  an  apprentice  to  the  locksmith  Wangerow, 
and  afterwards  when  he  became  a  journeyman,  I  had  seen 
him  but  seldom,  and,  indeed,  for  the  last  half  year  not  at 
all. 

He  came  at  once  into  my  mind  as  we  steamed  past  his 
father's  cottage,  and  I  perceived  a  figure  standing  on  the 
sands  by  the  side  of  the  boat  which  was  drawn  up  on  the 
beach.  The  distance  was  great,  but  my  keen  eyes  recog- 
nized Christel  Mowe,  Klaus's  adopted  sister,  whom  sixteen 
years*  before,  old  Pinnow's  wife — long  since  dead  —  had 
found  the  morning  after  a  storm,  lying  on  the  beach  among 
the  boxes  and  planks  driven  ashore  from  a  wreck,  and  whom 
the  old  blacksmith,  in  an  unwonted  impulse  of  generosity,  as 
some  said,  or  to  raise  his  credit  with  the  neighbors,  accord- 
ing to  others,  had  taken  into  his  house.  The  wreck  was  a 
Dutch  ship  from  Java,  as  they  made  out  from  some  of  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  ii 

things  cast  ashore ;  but  her  name  and  owners  were  never 
discovered  —  probably  from  the  negligence  of  the  officials 
charged  with  the  investigations — and  they  named  the  little 
foundling  Christina,  or  Christel,  Mowe  \_GuI/\,  because  the 
screams  of  a  flock  of  gulls  in  the  air  had  attracted  Goodwife 
Pinnow  to  the  spot  where  the  child  was  lying. 

A  noise  close  at  hand  caused  me  to  look  round.  Two 
paces  from  me  a  hatchway  was  opened,  and  out  of  the  hatch- 
way emerged  the  figure  of  a  man  who  was  standing  on  the 
ladder,  but  whose  head  rose  high  enough  above  the  deck  to 
allow  him  to  see  over  the  low  bulwarks.  His  short  stiff  hair, 
his  broad  face,  his  bare  muscular  neck,  his  breast  open 
almost  to  the  belt,  his  shirt  which  had  once  been  striped 
with  red,  and  his  trousers  which  had  once  been  white — were 
all  covered  with  a  thick  black  deposit  of  coal-dust ;  and  as  he 
was  blinking  with  his  small  eyes  almost  shut  in  order  to  see 
more  keenly  some  distant  object,  he;  would  have  presented 
an  unbroken  surface  of  blackness,  had  he  not  at  this  moment 
expanded  an  immense  mouth  into  a  joyous  grin,  and  dis- 
played two  rows  of  teeth  of  unsurpassed  whiteness.  And 
now  he  raised  himself  a  few  inches  higher,  waved  his  great 
black  hand  as  a  greeting  towards  the  beach,  and  all  at  once 
I  recognized  him. 

"  Klaus  !"  I  called  out. 

"  Hallo  !"  he  cried,  starting,  and  quickly  bringing  his  small 
eyes  to  bear  upon  me. 

"  That  was  a  mighty  affectionate  salute  of  yours,  Klaus." 

Klaus  blushed  visibly  through  his  rind  of  soot,  and  showed 

all  his  teeth.     "  Why,  in  the  name  of ,  George,"  cried 

he,  "  where  do  you  come  from,  and  what  has  brought  you 
here?" 

"  And  what  has  brought  you  here  ? " 

"  I  have  been  here  ever  since  Easter.  I  have  had  it  in 
my  mind  for  some  time  to  come  to  see  you  and  inquire 
after  your  health." 

"  You  foolish  fellow,  why  do  you  put  on  that  respectful 
tone  with  me  ? " 

"  Oh,  you  belong  to  the  great  folks  now,"  replied  Klaus, 
jerking  his  thumb  over  his  shoulder  in  the  direction  of  the 
quarter-deck. 

"  I  wish  I  were  below  with  you,  and  you  would  give  me  a 


12  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

good  thick  slice  of  bread  and  butter.     Hang  the  great  folks, 
as  you  call  them." 

Klaus  looked  at  me  in  astonishment. 

"  Well,  but  why  in  the  world "  he  began. 

"  Why  am  I  here  ?  Is  that  what  you  mean  ?  Why, 
because  I  am  a  fool  and  an  ass." 

"  Oh,  no,"  remonstrated  Klaus. 

"  Yes,  I  am — a  complete  ass.  I  wish  all  my  friends  were 
as  good  as  you  are,  Klaus."  Here  I  gave  a  glance  towards 
the  perfidious  Arthur,  who  was  strutting  about  among  the 
guests  with  the  parasol  of  the  perfidious  Emilie,  while  she 
had  set  his  little  straw-hat  in  a  coquettish  fashion  on  her  curls. 

"  I  am  wanted  below,"  said  Klaus,  with  a  friendly  grin  ; 
"  Good-by."     And  down  the  ladder  he  went. 

"  Was  that  a  chimney-sweep  ?  "  asked  a  clear  voice  be- 
hind me. 

I  turned  hastily  round,  rising  from  my  seat.  There  stood 
a  charming  little  lady  of  eight,  in  a  little  white  frock  with 
ribbons  of  cornflower  blue  at  the  shoulders  and  streaming 
from  her  straw-hat,  whose  great  cornflower  blue  eyes  first 
stared  with  intense  curiosity  at  the  hatchway  through  which 
my  black  friend  had  vanished,  and  then  turned  inquiringly 
to  me. 

At  this  moment  the  hatch  was  raised  again,  and  Klaus's 
head  emerged — "  Shall  I  really  get  you  a  slice  ?  " 

"  Oh,  mercy  !  "  cried  the  little  lady.  Klaus  vanished  in- 
stantaneously, and  the  hatch  shut  down  with  a  bang. 

"  Oh,  mercy  !  "  cried  the  little  maid  again.  "  How  it 
frightened  me  !  " 

"  What  frightened  you,  ma  chhre  !  "  asked  another  voice. 
The  voice  was  extremely  thin,  and  so  was  the  lady  to  whom 
it  belonged,  and  who  had  just  come  out  of  the  deck-cabin. 
So  also  was  the  worn  dress  of  changeable  silk  that  fluttered 
about  her  figure,  and  the  reddish  locks  that  drooped  on  each 
side  of  her  pale  face. 

This  lady  was  Fraulein  Amalie  Duff",  and  the  little  maid 
with  the  cornflower  eyes  and  ribbons  was  her  pupil,  Her- 
mine  Streber,  the  commerzienrath's  only  child.  Of  course 
I  knew  them  both,  as  indeed  I  was  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  everybody  in  our  little  town,  as  soon  as  they  were  out 
of  long-clothes ;  and  they  might  well  have  known  me,  for  I 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  13 

had  been  two  or  three  times  with  Arthur  in  his  uncle's  large 
garden  at  the  town-gate,  and  a  fortnight  before  had  even  had 
the  honor  to  swing  the  little  Hermine  in  the  great  wooden 
swing,  from  which,  if  you  swung  high  enough,  you  could 
catch  a  sight  of  the  sea  through  the  tops  of  the  trees. 
Friiulein  Duff,  moreover,  was  a  native  of  the  little  Saxon 
town  which  was  the  birthplace  of  my  parents  ;  and  when  she 
arrived,  some  months  before,  she  brought  various  messages 
and  greetings  from  the  old  home,  which  unhappily  came  too 
late  for  my  good  mother,  who  had  been  resting  in  the  church- 
yard for  fifteen  years.  She  had  frequently  condescended — 
indeed  no  longer  ago  than  the  afternoon  of  the  swinging — 
to  bestow  her  instructive  conversation  upon  me ;  but  she 
was  very  near-sighted,  and  I  could  not  take  it  amiss  that 
she  applied  her  gold  double  eye-glass  to  her  pale  eyes,  and 
with  a  sweeping  reverence,  which  in  the  dancing-school  is 
called,  I  believe,  gravid  compliment^  inquired  :  "  Whom  have 

I  the  honor  to 1 " 

I  introduced  myself. 


CHAPTER     II. 

"  t^\  CIEL  !  "  cried  Fraulein  Duff,  "  mon  jeune  compa- 
V^  triote !  -A  thousand  pardons  ! — ^my  near-sighted- 
ness !  How  is  your  respected  father,  and  your 
ami-able  mother  ?  Dear  me  !  how  confused  I  am  !  But  your 
sudden  appearance  in  this  retired  corner  of  the  world  has 
quite  unnerved  me.  I  was  about  to  say — the  company  are 
asking  for  you.  How  did  you  manage  to  elude  observation  .-* 
— they  are  looking  for  you  everywhere." 

"  Yet  I  might  have  been  found  easily  enough,"  I  said, 
probably  with  a  touch  of  wounded  pride  in  the  tone,  which 
did  not  escape  the  quick  ear  of  Fraulein  Duff. 

"  Ah,  yes,"  she  said,  conveying  a  look  of  intelligence  into 
her  pale  eyes.  "  '  Who  solace  seeks  in  solitude ' — alas  !  too 
true. 

"  '  For  gold  all  are  longing, 

Round  gold  all  are  thronging — '  " 


14  Hatnmer  and  Anvil. 

"  Not  so  wild,  ma  chlre  !  The  dreadful  creature  will  tear 
your  dress  !  " 

These  last  words  were  addressed  to  the  little  Hermine, 
who  had  begun  to  romp  on  the  smooth  deck  with  a  pretty 
little  spaniel  that  had  run  to  her  barking  and  jumping. 

"  You  have  a  feeling  heart,"  continued  the  governess, 
turning  again  to  me ;  "I  see  it  in  the  pained  expression  of 
your  mouth.  Your  soul  shrinks  from  noisy  joys  ;  this  bois- 
terous merriment  is  odious  to  you.  But  we  poor  ones  must 
submit  to  the  inevitable — or  I,  at  least  must.  Would  I  be 
here  if  it  were  not  so  ?  Upon  this  tossing  bark,  in  terror  for 
my  life  ?  And  all  for  what  purpose  ?  to  assist  at  a  cannibal 
feast !  Innocent  oysters,  which  men  tear  from  the  maternal 
bosom  of  the  sea  to  devour  alive !  Is  that  a  fit  spectacle  to 
be  exhibited  to  a  child  ?  "  and  Fraulein  Duff  shook  her 
thin  locks  with  an  expression  of  the  deepest  solicitude. 

"  It  remains  yet  to  be  seen  whether  we  shall  find  any,"  I 
said,  with  something  like  a  sneer. 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  The  other  gentlemen  doubt  it,  too. 
The  water  of  the  Baltic  is  not  salt  enough.  True,  we  are 
informed  that  the  Romans  propagated  them  in  fresh-water 
lakes  near  Naples — but  why  parade  my  modest  bit  of  learn- 
ing before  a  young  scholar  like  yourself }  The  good  com- 
merzienrath  !  Yes,  yes  ;  despise  reason  and  learning  who 
will ! — but  here  he  comes  himself.  Not  a  word  of  what  we 
have  been  saying,  my  young  friend,  I  beseech  you !  " 

I  had  no  time  to  assure  the  pale  lady  of  my  discretion,  for 
nearly  the  whole  company  came  crowding  on  the  forward- 
deck,  in  the  wake  of  the  commerzienrath,  who  had  the  fat 
Mrs.  Justizrath  Heckepfennig  upon  his  arm,  to  look  at  a 
three-master  that  was  just  passing  us  under  full  sail.  In 
the  next  moment  I  was  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  and  the 
ice,  in  which  I  had  been  sitting,  so  to  speak,  was  broken. 
Arthur,  whose  delicate  face  was  already  flushed  by  the  wine 
he  had  been  drinking,  clapped  me  on  the  shoulder  and 
asked  where  upon  earth  I  had  been  hiding.  The  perfidious 
Emilie  held  out  her  hand  and  murmured  :  "  Had  you  then 
entirely  forgotten  me  1  "  and — as  just  at  that  moment  a 
salute  was  fired  from  some  small  mortars  on  board  the 
steamer — fell,  with  a  little  scream,  into  my  arms.  The  three- 
master,  that  was  just  returning  from  the  West  Indies,  belonged 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  15 

to  the  commerzienrath's  fleet.  They  knew  that  she  would 
arrive  to-day  ;  and  it  was  by  no  means  disagreeable  to  the 
commerzienrath  to  be  able  to  carry  his  guests,  on  their  way 
to  his  oyster-beds,  past  the  finest  of  his  ships.  He  mounted 
the  paddle-box,  speaking-trumpet  in  hand,  and  roared,  at  the 
pitch  of  his  lungs,  something  which,  amid  the  universal  hur- 
rahing and  the  explosions  of  the  mortars,  was  perfectly  in- 
audible to  the  bronzed  captain  of  the  ship,  who  shrugged 
his  broad  shoulders  as  a  sign  that  he  could  not  catch  a  word 
of  it  all.  What  difference  did  it  make  ?  It  was  a  splendid 
sight ;  and  the  commerzienrath  upon  the  paddle-box,  trum- 
pet in  hand,  was  the  chief  figure  in  it.  That  was  enough 
for  him  ;  and  as  the  Albatros  with  her  wide  wings  swept  by, 
and  the  short  legs  of  the  Penguin  began  to  paddle  again, 
and  he  descended  from  his  pedestal  to  receive  the  congratu- 
lations of  the  company,  his  little  clear  eyes  sparkled,  his 
nostrils  expanded,  and  his  loud  laugh  rang  like  the  crowing 
of  a  cock,  exulting  in  the  proud  consciousness  that  he  is 
the  master  of  the  dunghill. 

The  rest  of  the  poultry  freely  acknowledged  this  superi- 
ority :  there  was  cackling  and  clucking,  bowing  and  scrap- 
ing, and  no  one  more  obsequious  than  Arthur's  father,  the 
steuerrath,  who  kept  constantly  at  the  side  of  the  great  man, 
saying,  in  his  smooth  voice,  flatteries,  which  the  other  re- 
ceived as  a  matter  of  course — something  to  which  he  was 
well  accustomed,  especially  from  that  quarter — with  an  in- 
difference which  to  most  others  would  have  been  insulting. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  steuerrath  did  not  find  this  be- 
havior on  the  part  of  his  rich  brother-in-law  altogether 
pleasant,  but  he  was  too  much  a  man  of  the  world  to  give 
any  outward  sign  of  his  inward  emotions.  But  his  spouse 
was  not  quite  so  successful  in  her  self-command,  who,  as 
born  Baroness  Kippenreiter,  had  an  unquestionable  claim  to 
respectful  attention,  and  a  right  to  be  dissatisfied  if  this  were 
withheld.  So  she  sought  to  indemnify  herself  for  the  humilia- 
tion by  the  extremest  possible  condescension  of  manner  to- 
wards the  other  ladies,  Mrs.  Burgomaster  Koch,  Mrs.  Justiz- 
r^th  Heckepfennig,  Mrs.  Bauinspector  Strombach,  and  the 
rest  of  the  feminine  elite  of  our  little  town,  though  even  this 
satisfaction  could  not  roll  away  the  clouds  from  her  aristo- 
cratic brow. 


1 6  Haptmcr  and  Anvil. 

I  had  hardly  begun  to  feel  at  ease  in  the  company,  which 
happened  quickly  enough,  when  my  natural  vivacity,  which 
bordered  on  rudeness,  returned  and  impelled  me  to  a  hun- 
dred pranks,  which  were  decidedly  not  in  the  best  taste, 
though  certainly  not  instigated  by  any  intention  to  offend, 
and  which  I  carried  on  all  the  more  recklessly,  as  I  perceived 
I  had  all  the  laughers  on  my  side.  I  could  blush  with  shame 
even  now,  when  I  think  of  my  shallow  attempts  at  wit,  and 
how  poor  in  invention  and  clumsy  in  execution  were  the 
comic  imitations  to  which  I  must  needs  treat  my  respectable 
audience,  because  forsooth  I  had  a  sort  of  celebrity  in  the 
town  for  this  sort  of  thing,  (my  masterpiece,  I  remember, 
was  a  lover  bent  on  regaling  his  mistress  with  a  serenade, 
and  incessantly  disturbed  by  barking  dogs,  mewing  cats, 
scolding  neighbors,  and  malicious  passers-by,  and  finally 
taken  up  by  the  watch,)  what  foolish  flippancy  and  want  of 
tact  in  the  speeches  that  I  made  at  the  table,  and  with  how 
many  glasses  of  wine  I  repaid  myself  for  all  my  ridiculous 
exertions. 

And  yet  this  lunch  under  an  awning  on  deck  of  the 
steamer  that  was  now  anchored  in  the  calm,  smooth  sea,  was 
the  last  real  merry-making  that  I  was  to  have  for  many  long 
years.  I  do  not  know  if  it  was  this  that  keeps  it  so  bright 
in  my  memory,  or  rather  the  youth  that  then  glowed  in  my 
veins,  the  wine  that  sparkled  in  the  glasses,  the  bright  sun- 
shine that  glistened  on  the  sea,  and  the  sweet  air  that  swept 
so  softly  over  the  water  that  it  did  not  suffice  to  cool  the 
flushed  cheeks  of  the  maidens.  It  was  rather  all  together — 
youth,  sunlight,  sea-breeze,  golden  wine,  rosy  cheeks ;  and 
ah !  the  oysters,  the  unlucky  oysters,  that  had  had  two  years 
in  which  to  multiply  like  the  sand  of  the  sea,  and  which  the 
sea-sand  and  sea-currents  had  buried  and  swept  away,  all 
to  a  few  empty  shells  !  What  an  inexhaustible  theme  were 
these  empty  shells,  displayed  with  humorous  ostentation  in 
a  splendid  dish  in  the  centre  of  the  table  !  how  every  one 
tried  his  wit  on  them,  and  what  a  malicious  joy  each  felt 
that  the  millionaire's  obstinate  conceit  had  had  a  lesson,  and 
that  not  all  his  millions  could  extort  from  nature  what  she 
had  determined  to  refuse  ! 

But  the  old  fellow  bore  it  all  with  the  utmost  good-humor  ; 
and  after  he  had  bewailed  his  ill-luck  in  a  humorous  speech, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  17 

suddenly  a  loud  clamor  arose  on  the  forward-deck,  and  the 
sailors  dragged  forward  great  barrels  of  oysters,  which  they 
declared  they  had  just  taken  up.  Then  there  was  no  end 
to  the  exultation  and  cheers  to  our  magnificent  host,  who 
once  more  had  shown  that  his  sagacity  and  foresight  were 
even  greater  than  his  conceit  and  his  obstinacy. 

I  do  not  know  how  late  the  feast  was  protracted,  while  the 
ladies  promenaded  the  deck  ;  it  was  certainly  kept  up  far  too 
long  for  us  youngsters.  Very  queer  stories  were  told,  in 
which  the  commerzienrath  particularly  distinguished  him- 
self; we  laughed,  we  shouted — I  must  volunteer  songs,  which 
were  received  with  storms  of  applause,  and  I  was  not  a  little 
vain  as  my  powerful  bass  drew  even  the  ladies  to  the  table 
again,  and  did  my  best,  when  both  ladies  and  gentlemen 
joined  in  unison  in  the  glee,  "  What  it  means  I  cannot  tell," 
to  carry  through  a  second  voice  (in  thirds),  keeping  my  eye 
all  the  while  on  Friiulein  Emilie — an  attention  which  natu- 
rally set  the  other  young  ladies  to  giggling  and  nudging  each 
other,  and  occasioned  Arthur  such  pangs  of  jealousy,  that 
afterwards,  as  we  were  walking  up  and  down  the  deck,  with 
our  cigars,  he  called  me  to  account  for  it. 

By  this  time  it  was  evening,  for  I  remember  that,  while 
talking  with  Arthur,  I  noticed  on  the  coast  of  the  island, 
which  we  had  neared  on  our  return,  an  old  ruin,  standing 
picturesquely  on  a  high  and  steep  cliff,  and  glowing  in  the 
light  of  the  setting  sun.  The  sight  of  this  ruin  gave  an  un- 
pleasant turn  to  our  discussion,  which  had  already  grown 
sharp.  This  tower  happened  to  be  the  sole  remnant  of  the 
ancient  Zehrenburg,  the  ancestral  seat  of  Arthur's  family, 
which,  in  former  times,  had  enjoyed  large  possessions  on. the 
island.  Arthur  pointed  with  a  pathetic  gesture  to  the  ruddy 
walls,  and  demanded  that  I,  here  and  now,  with  my  eye  upon 
the  castle  of  his  ancestors,  should  renounce  forever  all  pre- 
tensions to  Emilie  Heckepfennig.  "  A  plebeian  like  myself," 
he  said,  "  was  in  duty  bound  to  give  way  to  a  patrician."  I 
maintained  that  there  were  no  such  things  as  plebeians  or 
patricians  in  affairs  of  the  heart,  and  that  I  would  never  con- 
sent to  a  pledge  which  would  entail  perpetual  wretchedness 
on  both  Emilie  and  myself 

"  Slave  !  "  cried  Arthur,  "  is  it  thus  that  you  repay  me  for 
the  condescension  that  has  so  long  tolerated  your  society? " 


1 8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

I  laughed  aloud,  and  my  laughter  still  further  exasperated 
Arthur's  drunken  passion. 

"  My  father  is  Steuerrath  von  Zehren,"  he  cried,  "  and 
yours  a  miserable  subaltern." 

"  Let  us  leave  our  fathers  out  of  the  question,  Arthur ;  you 
know  I  will  not  endure  any  insult  to  mine." 

"  Your  father " 

"  Once  more  I  warn  you,  Arthur,  leave  my  father's  name 
alone.  My  father,  at  the  very  least,  is  as  good  as  yours. 
And  if  you  say  another  word  about  my  father,  I'll  fling  you 
overboard,"  and  I  shook  my  fist  in  Arthur's  face. 

"  What's  the  matter  here  ?  "  asked  the  steuerrath,  who  sud- 
denly appeared.  "  How,  young  man,  is  this  the  respect  that 
you  owe  to  my  son — that  you  owe  to  me  ?  It  appears  that 
you  are  disposed  to  add  the  crown  to  your  disgraceful  be- 
havior all  day.  My  son  has  invited  you  into  his  company 
for  the  last  time." 

"  Invited  me,  indeed  !  "  I  said.  "  We  ran  away,  both  of 
us  !  " — and  I  burst  into  a  shout  of  laughter  that  quite  justi- 
fied the  steuerrath's  qualification  of  my  behavior. 

"  How  !  "  he  exclaimed.     "  Arthur,  what  does  this  mean  ? " 

But  Arthur  was  not  in  condition  to  give  an  intelligible  an- 
swer. He  stammered  out  something,  and  rushed  toward 
me,  apparently  with  the  intention  of  striking  me,  but  his 
father  caught  his  arm  and  led  him  away,  speaking  very  ear- 
nestly to  him  in  a  low  tone,  and  as  he  went  he  threw  a  furi- 
ous look  at  me. 

My  blood,  already  excited,  was  now  boiling  in  my  veins. 
The  next  thing  I  remember  I  was  walking  arm-in-arm  with 
the  commerzienrath — I  have  never  been  able  to  understand 
how  I  did  it — and  passionately  complaining  to  him  of  the 
crying  outrage  I  had  received  from  my  best  friend,  for  whom 
I  was  at  all  times  ready  to  sacrifice  fortune  and  blood.  The 
commerzienrath  seemed  as  if  he  would  die  with  laughing. 
"  Fortune  and  blood  !  "  he  cried  ;  "  as  for  the  fortune  " — 
here  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  blew  out  his  cheeks — 
"  and  as  for  the  blood" — here  he  nudged  me  with  his  elbow 
in  the  side.  "  Full  blood,  capital  blood,  of  course.  I  have 
had  one  of  the  breed  myself ;  a  Kippenreiter !  Baroness 
Kippenreiter !  My  Hermann,  at  all  events,  is  of  the  half 
blood.     There  she  runs  ;  is  she  not  an  angel  ?     Pity  she  was 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  19 

not  a  boy :  that's  the  reason  I  always  call  her  Hermann, 
Hermann  !  Hermann  !  " 

The  little  maid  came  running :  she  had  on  a  red  scarf, 
which  her  father,  after  kissing  her,  wrapped  closer  around 
her  delicate  shoulders. 

"  Is  she  not  an  angel — a  pride  ? "  he  went  on  taking  my 
arm  again.  "  She  shall  have  a  count  for  a  husband ;  not  a 
poor,  penniless  sprig  of  nobility,  like  my  brother-in-law,  nor 
like  his  drunken  brother  at  Zehrendorf,  nor  the  other,  that 
sneaking  fellow,  the  penitentiary  superintendent  at  What-d'ye- 
call-it  No,  a  real  count,  a  fellow  six  feet  high,  just  like  you, 
my  boy,  just  like  you  !  " 

The  short  commerzienrath  tried  to  lay  his  two  fat  hands 
upon  my  shoulders,  and  tipsy  emotion  blinked  in  his  eyes. 

"You  are  a  capital  fellow,  a  splendid  fellow.  Pity  you 
are  such  a  poor  devil ;  you  should  be  my  son-in-law.  But  I 
must  call  you  thou :  thou  mayst  say  thou  to  me,  too, 
brother  !  "  and  the  worthy  man  sobbed  upon  my  breast  and 
called  for  champagne,  apparently  with  a  view  of  solemnly 
ratifying  the  bond,  of  brotherhood  after  the  ancient  fashion. 

I  have  my  doubts  whether  he  carried  this  design  into 
effect :  at  all  events  I  rerriember  nothing  of  the  ceremony, 
which  could  scarcely  have  escaped  my  memory.  Bert  I  re- 
member that  not  long  after  I  was  in  the  engine-room  with  a 
bottle  of  wine,  hobnobbing  with  my  friend  Klaus,  and  swear- 
ing that  he  was  the  best  and  truest  fellow  in  the  world,  and 
that  I  would  appoint  him  head- stoker  in  hell  as  soon  as  I 
got  there,  which  would  not  be  long  coming  as  I  must  have 
a  settlement  with  father  this  evening,  and  that  I  would  let 
myself  be  torn  in  pieces  for  him  at  any  time,  and  that  I 
would  be  glad  if  it  were  done  right  at  once,  and  that  if  the 
great  black  fellow  there  did  not  stop  swinging  his  long  iron 
arm  up  and  down  I  would  lay  my  head  under  it,  and  there 
would  be  an  end  of  George  Hartwig. 

How  the  good  Klaus  brought  me  out  of  this  suicidal 
frame  of  mind,  and  how  he  got  me  up  the  ladder  again,  I 
cannot  say ;  it  must  have  been  managed  somehow,  for  as  we 
steamed  into  the  harbor  I  was  sitting  on  deck,  watching  the 
masts  of  the  anchored  ships  glide  past  us,  and  the  stars  glit- 
tering through  the  spars  and  cordage.  The  crescent  moon 
that  was  standing  over  the  spire  of  the  church  of  St  Nich- 


20  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

olas  seemed  suddenly  to  drop  behind  it,  but  it  was  I  that 
dropped,  as  the  Penguin  struck  the  timbers  of  the  wharf,  on 
which  there  was  again  assembled  a  crowd  of  people,  not  hur- 
rahing, however,  as  when  we  started,  but,  as  it  seemed  to 
me,  strangely  silent ;  and,  as  I  made  my  way  through  them, 
staring  at  me  I  thought  in  a  singular  manner,  so  that  I  felt 
as  if  something  terrible  must  have  happened,  or  was  on  the 
point  of  happening,  and  that  I  was  in  some  mysterious  way 
the  cause  of  it. 

I  stood  before  my  father's  small  house  in  the  narrow 
Water  street.  A  light  was  glimmering  through  the  closed 
shutters  of  the  room  to  the  left  of  the  front  door,  by  which  I 
knew  that  my  father  was  at  home — he  usually  took  a  solitary 
walk  around,  the  town-wall  at  this  hour.  Could  it  be  so  very 
late,  then  ?  I  took  out  my  watch  and  tried  to  make  out  the 
time  by  the  moonlight — for  the  street-lamps  were  never 
lighted  in  Uselin  on  moonlight  nights — but  could  not  suc- 
ceed. No  matter,  I  said  to  myself,  it  is  all  one !  and  grasp- 
ed resolutely  the  brass  knob  of  the  front  door.  To  my 
feverish  hand  it  felt  cold  as  ice. 


-o- 


CHAPTER    III. 

AS  I  closed  the  door  behind  me,  old  Frederica,  who, 
since  my  mother's  death,  had  been  housekeeper  for 
my  father,  came  suddenly  out  of  the  small  room  on 
the  right.  By  the  light  of  a  lamp  burning  dimly  on  the  hall- 
table  I  saw  the  good  old  woman  throw  up  her  hands  and 
stare  at  me  with  wide,  frightened  eyes.  "  Has  anything 
happened  to  my  father.?"  I  stammered,  seizing  the  table 
to  support  myself  What  with  the  warm  atmosphere  of  the 
house  after  the  fresh  night-air,  and  my  alarm  at  Frederica's 
terrified  looks,  my  breath  failed  me,  the  blood  seemed  to  rush 
to  my  head,  and  the  room  began  to  go  round. 

"  Wretched   boy,  what   have   you   done  ?  "    piteously  ex- 
claimed the  old  woman. 

"  In  heaven's  name,  what  has  happened  ?  "  I  cried,  seizing 
her  by  both  hands. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  21 

Here  my  father  opened  the  door  of  his  room  and  appeared 
upon  the  threshold.  Being  a  large  man  and  the  door  small, 
he  nearly  filled  up  the  doorway. 

"  Thank  God  !  "  I  murmured  to  myself. 

At  this  moment  I  experienced  no  other  feeling  than  that 
of  joyful  relief  from  the  anxiety  which  seemed  on  the  point 
of  suffocating  me ;  in  the  next,  this  natural  emotion  gave 
way  to  another,  and  we  glared  at  each  other  like  two  foes 
who  suddenly  meet,  after  one  has  long  been  seeking  the 
other,  and  the  other  nerves  himself  for  the  result,  be  it  what 
it  may,  from  which  he  now  sees  there  is  no  escape. 

"  Come  in,"  said  my  father,  making  way  for  me  to  pass 
into  his  room. 

I  obeyed  :  there  Was  a  humming  noise  in  my  ears,  but  my 
step  was  firm  ;  and  if  my  heart  beat  violently  in  my  breast, 
it  was  certainly  not  with  fear. 

As  I  entered,  a  tall  black  figure  slowly  rose  from  my 
father's  large  study-chair — -my  father  allowed  no  sofa  in  his 
house — ^it  was  Professor  Lederer.  I  stood  near  the  door, 
my  father  to  the  right,  by  the  stove,  the  professor  at  the  writing- 
table  in  front  of  the  lamp,  so  that  his  shadow  reached  from 
the  ceiling  to  the  floor,  and  fell  directly  upon  me.  No  one 
moved  or  spoke ;  the  professor  wished  to  leave  the  first 
word  to  my  father,  and  my  father  was  under  too  much  ex- 
citement to  speak.  In  this  way  we  stood  for  about  half  a 
minute,  which  seemed  to  me  an  eternity,  and  during  which  the 
certainty  flashed  into  my  mind  that  if  the  professor  did  not 
immediately  leave  the  room  and  the  house,  all  possible 
chance  of  an  explanation  between  my  father  and  myself  was 
cut  off. 

"  Misguided  young  man,"  at  last  began  the  professor. 

"  Leave  me  alone  with  my  father,  Herr  Professor/'  I  in- 
terrupted him. 

The  professor  looked  at  me  as  if  he  could  not  believe  his 
ears.  A  delinquent,  a  criminal — for  such  I  was  in  his  eyes 
— to  dare  to  interrupt  his  judge  in  such  a  tone,  and  with 
such  a  request — it  was  impossible. 

"  Young  man,"  he  began  again,  but  his  tone  was  not  as  as- 
sured as  the  first  time. 

"I  tell  you,  leave  us  alone  together,"  I  cried  with  a  louder 
voice,  and  making  a  motion  towards  him. 


2  2  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  He  is  mad,"  said  the  professor,  taking  a  hasty  step  back- 
wards, which  brought  him  in  contact  with  the  table. 

"  Sirrah  !  "  exclaimed  my  father,  stepping  quickly  forward, 
as  if  to  protect  the  professor  from  my  violence. 

"  If  I  am  mad,"  I  said,  turning  my  burning  eyes  from  one 
to  the  other,  "  so  much  the  greater  reason  for  leaving  us 
alone." 

The  professor  looked  round  for  his  hat,  which  stood  be- 
hind him  on  the  table. 

"  No  ;  remain,  remain,"  said  my  father,  his  voice  quiver- 
ing with  passion.  "  Is  this  audacious  boy  again  to  have  his 
insolent  way  ?  I  have  too  long  been  culpably  negligent ;  it 
is  high  time  to  take  other  measures." 

My  father  began  to  pace  up  and  down  the  room,  as  he 
always  did  when  violently  agitated. 

"  Yes,  to  take  other  measures,"  he  continued.  "This  has 
gone  on  far  too  long.  I  have  done  all  I  could ;  I  have 
nothing  to  reproach  myself  with  ;  but  I  will  not  become  a 
public  by-word  for  the  sake  of  a  perverse  boy.  If  he  refuses 
to  do  what  is  his  plain  duty  and  obligation,  then  have  I  no 
further  duty  or  obligation  towards  him  ;  and  let  him  see  how 
he  can  get  through  the  world  without  me." 

He  had  not  once  looked  at  me  while  he  uttered  these 
words  in  a  voice  broken  with  passion.  Later  in  life  I  saw  a 
painting  representing  the  Roman  holding  his  burning  hand 
in  the  glowing  coals,  and  looking  sideways  upon  the  ground 
with  an  expression  of  intensest  agony.  It  brought  at  once 
into  my  mind  the  remembrance  of  my  father  at  this  fateful 
moment. 

"  Your  father  is  right " — commenced  for  the  third  time 
the  professor,  who  held  it  his  duty  to  strike  in  while  the  iron 
was  hot — "  when  was  there  ever  a  father  who  has  done  more 
for  his  children  than  your  excellent  parent,  whose  integrity, 
industry  and  virtue  have  become  a  proverb,  and  who  through 
your  fault  is  now  deprived  of  the  crowning  ornament  of  a 
good  citizen  ;  that  is,  a  well-disciplined  son,  to  be  the  stay 
of  his  declining  years.  Is  it  not  enough  that  inevitable  fate 
has  already  hard  smitten  this  excellent  man — that  he  has 
lost  a  dear  consort  and  a  son  in  the  bloom  of  youth  ?  Shall 
he  now  lose  the  last,  the  Benjamin  of  his  old  age  ?  Shall 
his  unwearied  solicitude,  his  daily  and  nightly  prayers " 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


n 


My  father  was  a  man  of  strictest  principles,  but  far  from 
devout,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  word  ;  an  untruth 
was  his  abhorrence,  and  it  was  an  untruth  to  say  that  he  had 
prayed  by  night  and  day ;  and  besides,  he  had  an  excessive, 
almost  morbid  modesty,  and  the  professor's  panegjn-ic  struck 
him  as  exaggerated  and  ill-timed. 

"  Let  all  that  pass,  Herr  Professor  " — he  interrupted  the 
learned  man  rather  impatiently — "I  say  again,  I  have  done 
my  duty.  Enough  !  let  him  do  his.  I  want  nothing  of  him 
— nothing — nothing  whatever — not  so  much  as  " — and  he 
brushed  one  hand  over  the  other ;  "  but  this  I  will  have, 
and  if  he  refuses " 

My  father  had  worked  himself  into  a  rage  again,  and  my 
apparent  composure  only  further  exasperated  him.  Strange ! 
Had  I  fallen  to  prayers  and  entreaties,  I  know  that  my  father 
would  have  despised  me,  and  yet,  because  I  did  what  he  him- 
self would  most  assuredly  have  done  in  my  position,  because 
I  was  silent  and  stubborn,  he  hated  me  at  this  moment  as 
one  hates  anything  that  stands  in  one's  way,  and  which  yet 
cannot  be  spurned  aside  with  contempt. 

"  You  have  been  guilty  of  a  heavy  offence,  George  Hart- 
wig" — the  professor  began  again  in  a  declamatory  tone — 
"  that  of  leaving  the  Gymnasium  without  the  permission  of 
your  teachers.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  boundless  disrespect 
with  which,  as  so  often  before,  you  rejected  the  precious 
opportunity  offered  you  of  acquiring  knowledge :  I  will 
only  speak  of  the  terrible  guilt  of  disobedience,  of  insolent 
defiance  of  orders,  of  the  eVil  example  that  your  disgrace- 
ful conduct  has  presented  to  your  class-mates.  If  Arthur 
von  Zehren's  facile  temper  has  at  last  been  warped  into  con- 
firmed frivolity,  this  is  the  evil  fruit  of  your  bad  example. 
Never  would  that  misguided  boy  have  dared  to  do  what  he 
has  done  to-day " 

As  I  knew  the  misguided  boy  so  much  better  than  he,  I 
here  broke  into  a  loud,  contemptuous  laugh,  which  drove  the 
professor  completely  beyond  his  self-control.  He  caught  up 
his  hat,  and  muttering  some  unintelligible  words,  apparently 
expressing  his  conviction  that  I  was  lost  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  reformation,  was  about  to  leave  the  room,  when  he 
was  detained  by  my  father. 

"  One  moment,  Herr  Professor,"  he  said,  and  then  turning 


24 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


to  me — "  You  will  instantly  ask  pardon  of  your  teacher  for 
this  additional  insolence — instantly!" 

"  I  will  not,"  I  replied. 

"  Instantly  !  "  thundered  my  father. 

"  I  will  not !  "  I  repeated. 

"  Once  more,  will  you,  or  will  you  not  ?  " 

He  stood  before  me  his  whole  frame  quivering  with  anger. 
His  naturally  sallow  complexion  had  turned  of  an  ashy  gray, 
the  veins  of  his  brow  were  swollen,  his  eyes  flashed.  His 
last  words  had  been  spoken  in  a  hoarse,  hissing  tone. 

"  I  will  not,"  I  said  for  the  third  time. 

My  father  raised  his  arm  as  if  to  strike  me,  but  he  did  not 
strike  ;  his  arm  slowly  descended,  and  with  outstretched 
hand  he  pointed  to  the  door  : 

"  Begone  !  "   he   said,  slowly  and   firmly.      "  Leave 
house  forever !  " 

I  looked  straight  into  his  eyes  ;  I  was  about  to  say  some- 
thing— perhaps  "  Forgive  me,  father  ;  I  will  ask  your  forgive- 
ness ;"  but  my  heart  lay  like  a  stone  in  my  breast ;  my  teeth 
were  clenched  like  a  vice  ;  I  could  not  speak.  I  moved  si- 
lently towards  the  door.  The  professor  hurried  after  me  and 
seized  my  arm,  no  doubt  with  the  kindest  intentions ;  but  I 
saw  in  him  only  the  cause  of  my  disgrace.  I  thrust  him 
roughly  aside,  flung  the  door  to  after  me,  ran  past  the  old 
housekeeper — the  good  old  creature  had  evidently  been  lis- 
tening, for  she  stood  there  wringing  her  hands,  the  picture 
of  despair — and  out  of  the  house  into  the  street. 


my  I 


-o- 


CHAPTER    IV. 


IRAN  for  a  short  distance  like  a  madman,  when  suddenly 
my  limbs  began  to  totter  under  me  ;  the  moonlit  roofs, 
the  lighted  windows  in  some  of  the  houses,  danced 
wildly  before  my  eyes  ;  the  fumes  of  the  wine  I  had  been 
drinking,  repressed  for  a  while  by  my  mental  excitement, 
now  rose  again  to  my  brain  ;  I  had  to  lean  against  a  wall  to 
keep  myself  from  falling. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


25 


I  had  probably  remained  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  state  of 
partial  insensibility  when  the  voices  of  some  maids,  who 
were  bringing  water  from  the  adjacent  fountain,  recalled  me 
to  consciousness.  I  roused  myself,  and  staggered  down  the 
street.  Soon  my  strong  natural  constitution  began  to  assert 
itself;  my  steps  grew  firmer,  and  I  began  to  consider  what 
I  should  do,  and  first  of  all,  whither  I  should  go.  The  idea 
of  seeking  lodgings  at  an  inn  I  rejected  at  once  ;  I  had 
never  yet  passed  a  night  from  home  ;  and  besides,  my  whole 
stock  of  money  did  not  exceed  one  thaler — my  father  always 
kept  me  on  a  very  meagre  allowance  of~pQcket-money — an 
I  had  an  indistinct  notion  that  I  should  have  to  make  this 
slender  sum  go  a  long  way.  Had  I  not  quarreled  with  Ar- 
thur and  parted  from  him  in  anger,  I  should  probably  have 
gone  to  him ;  but  as  it  was,  I  felt  it  impossible  to  present 
myself  at  his  house  as  a  supplicant ;  and,  besides,  by  this 
time  he  was  most  likely  sleeping  off  his  intoxication,  and  his 
parents  had  never  been  friendly  disposed  towards  me.  The 
commerzienrath  !  He  had  embraced  me,  called  me  thou 
and  brother :  he  would  assuredly  receive  me  with  rapture, 
have  me  shown  to  a  magnificent  chamber,  with  a  grand  four- 
post  curtained  bed 

But  while  I  was  indulging  in  the  picture  of  my  brilliant 
reception  at  the  commerzienrath's,  I  was  hastening  steadily 
in  the  opposite  direction,  towards  the  harbor.  I  passed  some 
low  taverns  in  which  sailors  were  roaring  out  coarse  songs. 
How  if  I  went  in  and  joined  the  drinkers,  and  to-morrow 
went  out  into  the  wide  world  a  sailor,  like  my  brother  Fritz  ? 
That  would  be  a  way  to  be  revenged  upon  my  father  1  To 
lose  two  sons — both  in  the  same  way !  And  then  to  perish 
at  sea,  and  my  corpse  to  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  where  . 
my  brother's  bones  had  long  been  lying !  "  Shame  upon 
you,  George !  "—I  said  to  myself—"  shame  !  The  poor  old 
man  !  " 

How  if  I  turned  back?  The  professor  had  certainly 
long  since  left  the  house.  My  father  was  alone  in  his  room. 
I  would  go  to  him  and  say—"  Strike  me  if  you  will,  father  ; 
I  will  not  resist ;  I  will  not  move  an  eyelid  f" 

But  I  did  not  return,  nor  even  slacken  my  pace ;  I  had 
already  left  the  town  behind,  and  was  now  in  the  wide  street 
of  the  suburb,  on  both  sides  of  which  stood  the  little  cottages 
2 


J>, 


26  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

which  at  this  season  were  chiefly  occupied  by  the  bathing- 
guests.  Here  and  there  they  shone  through  the  dark  trees ; 
some  of  them  had  lamps  burning  in  glass  globes  at  the  doors, 
and  under  trellises,  and  in  the  little  gardens  sat  cheerful 
groups  ;  song  and  laughter  and  the  merry  voices  of  children 
came  up  on  the  pleasant  evening  air ;  a  light  breeze  just 
stirred  the  tops  of  the  trees  over  my  head,  and  fire-flies 
twinkled  in  the  bushes. 

The  moist,  warm  breeze  from  the  sea  seemed  to  refresh 
me  ;  how  pleasant  it  must  be,  I  thought,  over  there  beyond 
the  houses  ;  and  on  the  instant.  Smith  Pinnow's  cottage  came 
into  my  mind.  The  very  thing  !  there  I  was  sure  of  a  shel- 
ter. The  old  man  would  give  me  a  bed,  or  at  least  a  shake- 
down in  the  forge  ;  or  there  was  the  old  woman's  great  arm- 
chair— certainly  she  could  not  sit  crouching  in  it  all  night  as 
well  as  all  day.  Pity  Klaus  was  not  at  home  ;  but  then  the 
pretty  Christel  was  there.  Christel  had  always  been  a  favor- 
ite of  mine  ;  indeed,  at  one  time  I  had  fancied  myself  really 
in  love  with  her,  and  her  charms  had  attracted  me  to  the  hut 
at  least  quite  as  often  as  the  old  man's  four  double-barrels 
and  the  long  single-barrel,  or  the  mulled  wine  which  he  used 
to  sell  in  the  winter  to  the  skaters  that  thronged  the  beach. 

Strange  light-heartedness  of  youth  !  At  this  moment  all 
the  mischief  I  had  done,  my  father's  grief,  my  own  serious 
position,  were  all  forgotten  ;  or,  if  not  forgotten,  they  were 
only  the  dark  background  upon  which  shone  brightly  and 
cheerily  the  picture  of  the  old  ruinous  hut  with  the  glowing 
forge-fire,  and  above  all  the  pretty  figure  of  the  brisk  Chris- 
tel moving  lightly  about.  What  was  the  school — what  was 
my  father's  house  and  all  the  rest  of  my  slavery  to  me  now  ? 
At  other  times,  when  I  had  been  out  at  this  hour,  I  was 
haunted  with  anxiety  how  I  should  get  in  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  my  father,  who  went  to  bed  punctually  at  half-past 
nine  :  now  my  father  had  himself  driven  me  from  his  house. 
No  need  now  to  pull  off  my  boots  at  the  door,  and  creep  softly 
up  the  creaking  stair  to  my  chamber  ;  I  was  a  free  man  and 
could  do  what  I  chose,  and  come  and  go  at  my  pleasure. 

The  wide  street  and  the  suburbs  were  now  behind  me  ;  I 
strode  along  the  well-known  path,  on  my  left  a  little  meadow, 
on  my  right  a  potato-field,  here  and  there  a  solitary  tree, 
blackly  defined  against  the  clear  starlit  sky,  and  on  either 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


27 


side  the  water,  whose  hollow  sound  I  heard  plainer  and 
plainer  as  the  tongue  of  land  narrowed,  especially  towards  the 
west,  the  windward  quarter,  where  lay  the  open  sea.  I  no- 
ticed for  the  first  time  that  I  had  no  cap.  I  had  either  lost 
it  or  left  it  by  the  lamp  on  the  hall-table  ;  so  much  the  bet- 
ter, the  sea-breeze  could  play  freely  around  my  heated  tem- 
ples and  in  my  loose  hair. 

A  pair  of  wild  swans  flew  high  above  me  ;  I  could  not  see 
them,  but  heard  their  peculiar  wailing  cry — two  simple  notes 
that  rang  strangely  through  the  silence  of  the  night.  "  Good 
speed ! "  I  called  out  to  them :  "  Good  speed,  my  good 
comrades  !  " 

A  strangely  happy  feeling,  mingled  of  sadness  and  joy, 
came  over  me,  such  as  I  had  never  known  before.  I  could 
have  thrown  myself  upon  the  earth  and  wept ;  I  could  have 
leaped  and  shouted  in  exultation.  I  could  not  then  compre- 
hend what  it  was  that  so  singularly  possessed  me.  Now  I 
know  well  what  it  was  :  it  was  the  sense  of  delight  that  must 
thrill  through  the  fish  when  he  darts  like  an  arrow  through 
the  liquid  crystal,  the  bird  when  he  sweeps  on  expanded  pin- 
ions through  the  air,  the  stag  when  he  bounds  over  the  wild 
plain  ;  the  rapture  that  thrills  man's  breast  when  in  the  full 
glow  of  youth  and  vigor  he  feels  himself  one  with  the  great 
mother,  Nature.  The  fore-feeling  of  this  delight,  the  longing 
to  taste  it,  are  what  drives  the  man  from  the  narrow  round 
of  circumstances  in  which  he  was  born,  out  into  the  wide 
world,  across  seas,  into  the  desert,  to  the  peaks  of  the  Alps, 
anywhere  where  the  winds  blow  free,  where  the  heaven 
broadens  grandly  above,  where  he  must  risk  his  life  to  win  it. 

Does  this  after-thought  excuse  the  insolent  obstinacy  of 
which  I  had  been  guilty  towards  my  father  j  and  the  terrible 
rashness  with  which  I  staked  my  whole  future  on  a  cast  of 
the  die  ?  Assuredly  not.  I  will  excuse  nothing,  extenuate 
nothing  ;  but  simply  narrate  what  happened  to  me  and  with- 
in me  during  these  events  and  those  that  followed  ;  only  giv- 
mg  an  explanation  here  and  there  when  circumstances  seem 
to  require  it.  Let  the  story  tell  its  own  moral  ;  only  this  will 
I  add,  for  the  consolation  of  thoughtful  souls,  that  if,  as  can- 
not be  gainsaid,  my  conduct  deserved  punishment,  this  pun- 
ishment was  dealt  out  to  me  speedily,  and  that  in  no  stinted 
measure. 


28  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

But  at  the  time  the  haggard  form  with  the  lame  foot  was 
still  too  far  behind  to  cast  the  shade  of  her  terrors  upon  me  ; 
two  other  figures,  however,  as  I  hastened  with  a  quickened 
pace  over  the  heath,  appeared  in  sight,  who  had  assuredly 
nothing  spectral  about  them,  for  they  were  standing  in  a 
close  embrace.  They  sprang  apart,  with  a  cry  of  alarm 
from  a  female  voice,  as,  turning  sharply  around  a  hillock,  I 
came  directly  upon  them.  The  maiden  caught  up  a  great 
basket,  which  she  had  set  upon  the  ground,  having  just  had 
other  employment  for  her  arms,  and  her  companion  gave  an 
"  Ahem  !  "  which  was  so  loud  and  so  confused  that  it  could 
only  have  proceeded  from  a  very  innocent  breast. 

"  Good  evening,"  I  said  ;  "  I  trust " 

"  Good  Lord  !  is  it  really  you  ?  "  said  the  man.  "  Why, 
Christel,  only  think  it's  him  !  " — and  Klaus  caught  Christel 
Mowe,  who  was  about  taking  to  flight,  by  her  dress,  and  de- 
tained her. 

"  Oh  !  I  thought  it  was  him  !  "  stammered  Christel,  whose 
mind  did  not  seem  entirely  relieved  by  the  discovery  that 
if  they  had  been  espied  it  was  by  a  good  friend. 

Although  the  position  in  which  Klaus  and  Christel  evi- 
dently stood  to  each  other  did  not  exactly  require  an  expla- 
nation, still  I  was  somewhat  astonished.  As  long  as  Klaus 
lived  with  his  father,  from  the  commencement  of  our  friend- 
ship, I  had  never  detected  in  the  good  fellow's  heart  anything 
more  than  brotherly  affection  for  his  pretty  adopted  sister ; 
but  then  that  was  four  years  ago.  Klaus  was  but  sixteen 
when  he  went  to  work  with  locksmith  Wangerow  ;  and  per- 
haps this  temporary  separation  had  aroused  the  love  which 
otherwise  would  have  calmly  slumbered  on,  and  possibly  never 
awakened  of  itself  This  was  confirmed  by  what  the  lovers 
themselves  told  me,  as  we  walked  slowly  on  together  towards 
the  forge,  often  stopping  for  a  minute  at  a  time  when  the 
story  reached  a  point  of  particularly  critical  interest.  One  of 
these  points — and  indeed  the  most  serious — was  the  strongly 
and  even  violently  expressed  aversion  of  old  Pinnow  to 
the  engagement.  Klaus  did  not  say  so,  but  from  all  that  I 
gathered  I  surmised  that  it  was  not  altogether  impossible 
that  the  old  man  himself  had  cast  an  eye  upon  his  pretty 
adopted  daughter ;  at  least  I  could  see  no  other  reasonable 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  year  by  year,  and  day  by  day, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  29 

he  had  grown  more  morose  and  rancorous  towards  Klaus,  and 
at  last,  after  much  snarling  and  storming  over  his  gadding 
about,  and  his  shameful  waste  of  time,  had  ended  by  forbid- 
ding him  the  house,  without  the  good  fellow — as  he  solemnly 
asseverated,  and  I  believed  him — having  ever  given  him  the 
slightest  cause  of  complaint.  Therefore  they — the  lovers — 
were  under  the  necessity  of  keeping  their  meetings  secret,  a 
proceeding  not  without  considerable  difficulties,  as  the  old 
man  was  extraordinarily  watchful  and  cunning.  For  instance, 
he  would  send  the  deaf  and  dumb  apprentice,  Jacob,  to  the 
town  to  make  the  necessary  purchases,  although  he  was  cer- 
tain to  make  some  blunder  or  other ;  and  to-day  he  would 
not  have  sent  Christel,  had  he  not  heard  that  Klaus  had 
some  late  work  to  do  on  board  the  steamer,  that  would  pre- 
vent his  coming  ashore. 

As  I  had  a  sincere  affection  for  the  good  Klaus,  who  had 
been  my  comrade  in  many  a  merry  frolic  by  land  and  water, 
and  was  no  less  fond  of  the  rosy,  soft-voiced  Christel  Mowe, 
I  felt  the  liveliest  sympathy  with  them  ;  and  improbable 
though  it  may  seem,  their  love,  with  its  sorrows  and  its  joys, 
and  the  possibility  of  its  happy  termination,  lay  at  this 
moment  nearer  my  heart  than  the  thought  of  my  own 
fortune.  My  mind,  however,  recurred  to  my  own  situation, 
when,  as  we  reached  a  slight  elevation  in  the  path,  the  forge, 
with  the  light  of  the  kitchen-fire  shining  through  its  low 
window,  appeared  close  at  hand,  and  Klaus  asked  if  we 
should  now  turn  back.  He  then  for  the  first  time  learned 
that  it  was  no  mere  evening  stroll  that  had  brought  me  so 
far  from  the  town  across  the  heath,  and  that  my  intention 
was  to  ask  his  father  for  shelter  for  a  day  at  least,  or  per- 
haps for  several  days.  At  the  same  time  I  briefly  explained 
to  him  the  cause  that  compelled  me  to  so  singular  a  step. 

Klaus  seemed  greatly  affected  by  what  he  heard ;  he 
grasped  me  by  the  hand,  and  taking  me  a  little  aside,  asked 
in  an  agitated  whisper  if  I  had  well  considered  what  I  was 
about  ?  My  father,  he  said,  could  not  mean  to  deal  so 
harshly  with  me,  and  would  certainly  forgive  me  if  I  returned 
at  once.  He  himself  would  go  and  prepare  the  way,  and 
let  the  storm  spend  its  first  wrath  upon  him. 

"  But,  Klaus,  old  fellow,"  I  said,  "  you  are  no  better  off 
than  I.     We  are  comrades  in  misery :  your  father  has  forbid 


30  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

den  you  his  honse,  just  as  mine  has  done  with  me.     What 
difference  is  there  between  us  ? " 

"This  difference,"  Klaus  answered,  "that  I  have  done 
nothing  to  give  my  father  the  right  to  be  angry  with  me, 
while  you  tell  me  yourself  that  you — don't  take  it  hard  of 
me — have  been  playing  a  very  ugly  trick." 

I  answered  that,  be  that  as  it  might,  home  I  would  never 
go.  What  further  I  should  do,  I  did  not  know  :  I  would 
come  on  board  the  steamer  to-morrow  and  talk  the  matter 
over  with  him  ;  it  was  very  likely  that  I  would  need  his 
assistance. 

Klaus,  who  saw  that  my  resolution  was  taken,  and  who 
had  always  been  accustomed  to  adapt  himself  to  my  plans, 
gave  my  hand  another  hearty  grasp,  and  said  :  "  Well,  then, 
till  to-morrow." 

His  good  heart  was  so  full  of  what  he  had  just  heard  that 
he  was  going  off  without  bidding  Christel  good-by,  had  I  not, 
laughing,  called  his  attention  to  this  highly  reprehensible 
oversight.  But  he  did  not  get  the  kiss  I  had  hoped  for  him  ; 
Christel  said  I  had  been  very  wicked  ;  and  so  we  departed, 
Klaus  going  back  towards  the  town,  and  soon  disappearing 
in  the  darkness,  and  Christel  and  I  keeping  on  to  the  forge, 
where  through  the  window  the  fire  was  now  blazing  brighter 
than  before. 

"  How  does  the  old  man  come  to  be  working  so  late  ?  "  I 
asked  the  girl. 

"  It  just  happens  so,"  she  answered. 

I  put  other  questions,  to  all  of  which  I  received  but  the 
briefest  possible  answers.  Christel  and  I  had  always  been  the 
best  friends  in  the  world,  and  I  had  ever  known  her  as  the 
brightest,  merriest  creature.  I  could  only  suppose  that  she 
had  been  seriously  offended  by  my  bit  of  sportiveness.  As  it 
was  never  my  nature,  unless  when  overcome  with  passion,  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  any  one,  least  of  all  a  poor  girl  of 
whom  I  was  really  fond,  so  I  did  not  for  a  moment  hesitate 
to  frankly  ask  her  pardon,  if  I  had  offended  her,  saying  that 
what  I  had  done  was  with  the  best  intention  in  the  world, 
namely,  that  her  lover  should  not,  through  my  fault,  leave 
her  without  a  good-by  kiss.  Christel  made  me  no  answer, 
and  I  was  about  placing  my  arm  around  her  trim  waist,  in 
order  to  give  more  emphasis  to  my  petition  for  forgiveness. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  3X 

when  the  girl  suddenly  burst  into  tears,  and  in  a  frightened 
tone  said  that  I  must  not  go  with  her  to  "  his  "  house  ;  and 
thai  it  was  anyhow  of  no  use,  for  "he  "  would  certainly  give 
me  no  lodging  there. 

This  declaration  and  this  warning  would  have  made  most 
persons  hesitate.  The  forge  was  in  such  a  lonely  place,  the 
reputation  of  the  old  smith  was  far  from  being  a  good  one, 
and  I  was  sufficiently  versed  in  robber-stories  to  recall  the 
various  romantic  situations  where  the  robber's  daughter 
warns  the  hero,  who  has  lost  his  way,  against  the  remaining 
members  of  her  estimable  family,  and  at  the  same  time  reveals 
her  love  for  him  in  a  style  equally  discreet  and  intelligent. 
But  "I  was  never  subject  to  those  attacks  of  timidity  to  which 
imaginative  persons  are  so  liable  ;  and  besides,  I  thought,  if 
the  old  man  is  jealous  of  his  son — and  this  I  set  down  as 
certain — why  may  he  not  be  so  of  me  "i — and  in  the  third 
place,  a  little  cur  at  this  moment  rushed,  furiously  barking, 
at  my  legs,  and  simultaneously  appeared  a  stout  figure  at 
the  open  door  of  the  forge,  and  Smith  Pinnow's  familiar  voice 
called  out  in  his  deep  bass :  "  Who  is  there  ? " 

"  A  friend — George  Hartwig,"  I  answered,  tossing  the  lit- 
tle yelping  brute  with  my  foot  into  the  bushes. 

Christel  must  have  given  the  old  man  an  intimation  of 
what  I  wanted  as  she  pushed  by  him  into  the  house,  for  he 
said  at  once,  without  moving  from  his  post  in  the  doorway, 
"  I  can  give  you  no  lodging  here ;  my  house  is  not  an  inn." 

"  I  know  that  very  well,  Pinnow,"  I  answered,  stepping 
up  and  offering  my  hand ;  "  but  I  thought  you  were  my  friend." 

The  old  man  did  not  take  my  hand,  but  muttered  some- 
thing that  I  did  not  catch. 

"  I  shall  not  return  home,  you  maybe  sure  of  that,"  I  con- 
tinued. "  So,  if  you  do  not  mean  that  I  shall  lie  here  in  the 
bushes,  and  join  your  dog  in  howling  at  the  moon,  you  will 
let  me  in,  and  mix  me  a  glass  of  grog — half-and-half,  you 
know  ;  and  take  a  glass  or  two  yourself:  it  will  do  you  good, 
and  put  better  thoughts  in  your  head." 

With  these  words,  I  laid  my  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the 
inhospitable  smith,  and  gave  him  a  hearty  shake,  in  token  of 
my  friendly  feelings. 

"  Would  you  attack  a  weak  old  man  in  his  own  house  ?" 
he  exclaimed  in  an  angry  tone,  and  in  my  turn  I  felt  on  my 


32  Hammer  attd  Anvil. 

shoulders  two  hands  whose  size  and  steely  hardness  were, 
for  "  a  weak  old  man,"  quite  remarkable.  My  blood,  which 
the  cooler  night  air  had  by  no  means  yet  lowered  to  the  desi- 
rable temperature,  needed  but  little  provocation  ;  and  besides, 
here  was  too  favorable  an  opportunity  to  put  to  the  proof  my 
much-admired  strength ;  so  I  seized  my  antagonist,  jerked 
him  at  a  single  effort  from  the  threshold,  and  hurled  him  a 
couple  of  paces  to  one  side.  I  had  not  the  slightest  design 
of  forcing  an  entrance  into  his  house ;  but  the  smith,  who 
feared  that  this  was  my  intention,  and  was  resolved  to  pre- 
vent it  at  all  hazards,  threw  himself  upon  me  with  such  fury 
that  I  was  obliged  in  self-defence  to  exert  my  whole  strength. 
I  had  had  many  a  hard  tussle  in  my  time,  and  had  always 
come  off  victorious  ;  but  never  before  had  I  been  so  equally 
matched  as  now.  Perhaps  it  was  from  some  small  remains 
of  regard  for  the  old  man  who  now  assaulted  me,  in  sailor 
fashion,  with  heavy  blows  of  his  fist,  that  I  refrained  from 
repaying  him  in  the  same  coin,  but  endeavored  to  grapple 
with  him.  At  last  I  felt  that  I  had  him  in  my  power :  seiz- 
ing a  lower  hold,  I  raised  him  from  the  ground,  and  the  next 
moment  he  would  have  measured  his  length  upon  the  sand, 
when  a  peal  of  laughter  resounded  close  at  hand.  Startled, 
I  lost  my  hold,  and  my  antagonist,  no  sooner  felt  himself 
free,  than  he  rushed  upon  me  again.  Unprepared  for  this 
new  attack,  I  lost  my  balance,  stumbled  and  fell,  my  antag- 
onist above  me.  I  felt  his  hands  of  iron  at  my  throat,  when 
suddenly  the  laughter  ceased.  "  For  shame,  old  man !" 
cried  a  sonorous  voice,  "  he  has  not  deserved  that  of  you  ;" 
and  a  pair  of  strong  arms  tore  the  smith  from  me.  I  sprang 
to  my  feet  and  confronted  my  deliverer,  for  so  I  must  call 
him,  as  without  his  interference  I  do  not  know  what  would 
have  happened  to  me. 


-o- 


CH  AFTER  V. 

HE  was,  as  well  as  I  could  distinguish  by  the  faint  light 
of  the  moon  that  was  now  partly  obscured  by  clouds, 
a  man  of  tall  stature  and  slender  frame ;  so  alert  in 
his  movements  that  I  took  him  to  be  young,  or  at  least  com- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  33 

paratively  young,  until,  at  a  sudden  turn  he  made,  the  flick- 
ering glare  of  the  fire  through  the  open  door  fell  upon  his 
face,  and  I  saw  that  his  features  were  deeply  furrowed, 
apparently  with  age.  And  as  now,  holding  my  ha«d,  he  led 
me  into  the  forge,  which  glowed  with  a  strong  light,  he 
seemed  to  me  to  be  neither  young  nor  old,  or  rather  both  at 
once. 

It  is  true,  the  moment  was  not  precisely  favorable  to  phys- 
iognomical investigations.  The  stranger  surveyed  me  with 
large  eyes  that  flashed  uncannily  out  of  the  crumpled  folds 
and  wrinkles  that  surrounded  them  from  head  to  foot,  and 
felt  my  shoulders  and  arms,  as  a  jockey  might  examine  a 
horse  that  has  got  over  a  distance  in  three  minutes  that  it 
takes  other  horses  five  to  accompUsh.  Then,  turning  on  his 
heel,  he  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter,  as  the  smith  turned 
upon  the  deaf  and  dumb  apprentice,  Jacob,  who  all  this  time 
had  been  blowing  the  bellows,  quite  indifferent  to  what  was 
going  forward,  and  gave  him  a  push  which  spun  him  around 
like  a  top. 

"  Bravo !  bravo  !  "  cried  the  stranger,  "  that  was  well 
done  !     Easier  handling  him  than  the  other — eh,  Pinnow  t  " 

"The  other  may  thank  his  stars  that  he  gets  off  so 
easily,"  growled  the  smith,  as  he  drew  a  red-hot  bar  from 
the  coals. 

"  I  am  ready  to  try  it  again  at  any  time,  Pinnow,"  I  cried, 
and  was  delighted  that  the  stranger,  with  an  amused  look, 
nodded  his  approbation,  while  with  affected  solemnity  he 
cried  :  "  For  sham^  young  man,  for  shame  !  a  poor  old 
man  !     Do  you  consider  that  a  thing  to  boast  of  ?  " 

The  smith  had  seized  his  heavy  forge-hammer,  and  was 
plying  the  glowing  bar  with  furious  strokes  until  the  sparks 
flew  in  showers,  and  the  windows  rattled  in  the  frames. 

The  stranger  stopped  his  ears.  "  For  heaven's  sake, 
man,"  he  cried,  "  stop  that  infamous  noise  !  Who  in  the 
devil's  name  can  stand  it,  do  you  think  ?  Do  you  suppose 
that  I  have  your  plebeian  ears  ?     Stop,  I  say,  or " 

He  gave  the  smith  a  push,  as  the  latter  had  just  before 
done  to  his  apprentice,  but  the  old  man  stood  more  firmly 
than  the  young  one.  With  a  furious  look  he  raised  his  ham- 
mer— it  seemed  as  if  the  next  moment  he  would  bring  it 
down  on  the  stranger's  head. 


34  Havimcr  and  Anvil. 

"  Have  you  gone  mad  ?  "  said  the  stranger,  casting  a  stern 
look  at  the  enraged  smith.  Then,  as  the  latter  slowly  low- 
ered the  hammer,  he  began  speaking  to  him  in  an  under- 
tone, to  which  the  old  man  answered  in  a  muttering  voice, 
in  which  I  thought  I  could  at  intervals  distinguish  my  own 
name. 

"  It  may  be,"  said  the  stranger  ;  "  but  here  he  is  now,  and 
here  he  shall  stav." 

"  Excuse  me,"  I  said,  "  I  have  not  the  least  idea  of  thrust- 
ing my  company  upon  you :  I  would  not  have  set  my  foot  in 
the  house,  had  not " 

"  Now  /le's  beginning  again,"  exclaimed  the  stranger,  with 
a  laugh  of  hal  vexation  ;  "  will  you  ever  come  to  your 
senses,  you  two  ?  What  I  want  is  peace  and  quiet,  and 
above  all,  'some  supper  ;  and  you  shall  keep  me  company. 
Hallo !  Christel  !  Where  is  the  girl  ?  You,  Pinnow,  take 
off  your  leather  apron  and  come  in  too." 

With  these  words  he  opened  the  low  door  on  the  right  of 
the  forge-fire,  which  led  from  the  forge  into  the  living-room. 
I  had  often  enough  been  in  the  latter,  and  indeed  I  knew 
the  whole  place  well  :  the  living-room  was  a  moderately  large 
apartment,  but  only  half  as  high  from  floor  to  ceiling  as  the 
forge  ;  the  sleeping-rooms  lying  above  it,  which  were  reached 
by  a  steep  stair,  or  sort  of  ladder,  in  a  corner  of  the  room, 
passing  through  a  hole  in  the  ceiling.  There  was  also  a 
door,  reached  by  two  steps,  which  led  into  a  small  side- 
room,  where  the  smith's  mother  slept.  This  old  woman,  a 
prodigy  of  age,  was  now  crouching  in  her  easy-chair  in  her 
usual  corner,  close  to  the  stove,  which  was  heated  from  with- 
out. In  the  middle  of  the  room  stood  a  heavv  oaken  table, 
and  on  the  table  the  great  basket  which  Christel  had  brought 
from  the  town.  Christel  herself  was  apparently  searching 
for  something  in  a  closet  at  the  further  end  of  the  room. 

"  Now,  Christel,"  said  the  stranger,  taking  a  light  to  look 
into  the  basket,  "  what  have  you  brought  ?  That  looks  in- 
viting. But  bestir  yourself,  for  I  am  hungry  as  a  wolf — and 
you  too,"  turning  to  me — "  are  you  not  ?  One  is  always  hun- 
gry at  your  age.  Come  this  way  to  the  window.  Sit 
down." 

He  made  me  sit  on  one  of  the  two  benches  that  stood  in 
the  recess  of  the  window,  seated  himself  on  the  other,  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  35 

continued  in  a  somewhat  lower  tone,  with  a  glance  at  Chris- 
tel,  who  was  now,  with  a  noiseless  despatch,  beginning  to 
set  the  table  : 


"  A  pretty  girl  :  rather  too  much  of  a  blonde,  perhaps  ; 
she  is  a  Hollander' ;  but  that  is  in  keeping  here  :  is  not  the 
old  woman  nodding  there  in  her  easy  chair  just  like  a  picture 
by  Terburg  ?  Then  old  Pinnow,  with  the  face  of  a  bull-dog 
and  the  -figure  of  a-  seal,  and  Jacob  with  his  carp's  eyes  ! 
But  I  like  it  ;  I  seldom  fail,  when  I  have  been  in  the  town 
without  my  carriage,  as  happens  to-day,  to  look  in  here,  and 
let  old  Pinnow  set  me  over  ;  especially  as  with  a  good  wind 
I  can  get  across  in  half  an  hour,  while  by  the  town-ferry  it 
takes  me  a  full  hour,  and  then  afterwards  as  much  more  be- 
fore I  reach  my  estate." 

The  stranger  spoke  in  a  courteous,  engaging  manner, 
which  pleased  me  exceedingly  ;  and  while  speaking,  repeat- 
edly stroked  with  his  left  hand  his  thick  beard,  which  fell 
half-way  down  his  breast,  and  from  time  to  time  glanced  at 
a  diamond  ring  on  his  finger.  I  began  to  feel  a  great  respect 
for  the  strange  gentleman,  and  was  extremely  curious  to 
know  who  he  was,  but  could  not  venture  to  ask  him. 

"  What  an  abominable  atmosphere  in  this  room  !  "  he 
suddenly  exclaimed;  "enough  to  make  one  faint;"  and 
he  was  about  opening  the  window  at  which  we  were  sitting, 
but  checking  himself,  he  turned  and  said :  "  To  be  sure  ! 
the  old  woman  might  take  cold.  Christel,  can't  you  get  the 
old  lady  to  bed  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  directly,"  said  Christel,  who  had  just  linished 
setting  the  table,  and  going  up  to  the  old  woman,  screamed 
in  her  ear,  "  Grandmother,  you  must  go  to  bed  !  " 

The  old  woman  received  this  intimation  with  evident  dis- 
favor, for  she  shook  her  head  energetically,  but  at  last 
allowed  herself  to  be  raised  from  her  crouching  position,  and 
tottered  from  the  room,  leaning  on  Christel's  arm.  When 
Christel  reached  the  steps  that  led  to  the  side  room  she 
looked  round.  I  sprang  to  her  assistance,  and  carried  the 
old  lady  up  the  steps,  while  Christel  opened  the  door,  through 
which  she  then  disappeared  with  her  charge. 

"  Well  done,  young  man,"  said  my  new  acquaintance,  as  I 
came  back  to  him  ;  "  we  must  always  be  polite  to  ladies. 
And  now  we  will  open  the  window." 


Havimcr  and  Am'il. 


He  did  so,  and  the  night  air  rushed  in.  It  had  grown 
darker  ;  the  moon  was  liidden  behind  a  heavy  mass  of  cloud 
that  was  rolling  up  from  the  west  ;  from  the  sea,  which  was 
but  a  few  paces  distant,  came  a  hollow  roaring  and  plashing 
of  tlie  waves  breaking  on  the  beach  ;  a  few  drops  of  rain 
drove  into  my  face. 

The  stranger  looked  out  intently  at  the  weather.  "  We 
must  be  off  presently,"  I  heard  him  say  to  himself  Then 
turning  to  me  :  "  Ikit  now  we  will  have  some  supper  ;  I  am 
almost  dying  of  hunger.  If  Pinnow  prefers  grumbling  to 
eating,  let  him  consult  his  taste.     Come." 

He  took  his  seat  at  the  table,  inviting  me  by  a  gesture  to 
place  myself  beside  him.  I  had,  during  the  day,  eaten  far 
less  than  1  had  drunk,  and  my  robust  frame,  which  had  long 
since  overcome  the  effects  of  my  intoxication,  now  impera- 
tively demanded  sustenance.  So  I  very  willingly  complied 
with  the  invitation  of  my  entertainer  ;  and  indeed  the  con- 
tents of  the  basket  which  Christel  had  now  unpacked  were 
of  a  nature  to  tempt  a  far  more  fiistidious  palate  than  mine. 
There  were  caviare,  smoked  salmon,  ham,  fresh  sausage, 
pickles  ;  nor  was  a  supply  of  wine  wanting.  Two  bottles 
of  Bordeau.x,  with  the  label  of  a  choice  vintage,  stood  upon 
the  table,  and  out  of  the  basket  peeped  the  silvery  neck  of 
a  bottle  of  Champagne. 

"  Quite  a  neat  display,"  said  the  stranger,  filling  both  our 
glasses,  helping  himself  first  from  one  dish  and  then  from 
another,  and  inviting  me  to  follow  his  example,  while  chat- 
ting at  intervals  in  his  pleasant  fashion.  Without  his  ques- 
tioning me  directly,  we  had  somehow  come  to  speak  of  my 
affairs  ;  and,  unsuspicious  and  communicative  as  I  was,  be- 
fore the  first  bottle  was  emptied  I  had  given  him  a  prettv 
fair  account  of  my  neither  long  nor  eventful  life.  The  oc- 
currences of  the  past  day,  so  momentous  for  me,  occupied 
rather  more  time  in  the  recital.  In  the  ardor  of  my  narra- 
tion, I  had,  without  observing  it,  filled  and  drunk  several 
glasses  of  wine  ;  the  weight  that  had  laid  upon  my  spirits 
liad  disappeared  ;  my  old  cheerful  humor  had  returned,  all 
the  more  as  this  meeting  with  the  mysterious  stranger  under 
such  singular  circumstances,  gave  my  imagination  room  for 
the  wildest  conjectures.  I  described  our  flight  from  the 
school,  I  mimicked  Professor  Lederer's  voice  and  manner, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  37 

I  threw  all  my  powers  of  satire  into  my  sketch  of  the  com- 
merzienrath,  and  I  fear  that  I  smote  the  table  with  my  fist 
when  I  came  to  speak  of  Arthur's  shameful  ing^ratitude,  and 
the  outrageous  partiality  of  the  steuerrath.  But  here  my 
talkative  tongue  was  checked  ;  the  melancholy  dimness  of 
my  fither's  study  spread  a  gloom  over  my  spirits  ;  I  fell  into 
a  tragic  tone,  as  I  swore  that  though  I  should  have  to  go  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  the  North  Cape,  barefoot,  as  I  was  already 
bareheaded,  and  beg  my  bread  from  door  to  door — or,  as 
begging  was  not  my  forte,  should  I  have  to  take  to  the  road 
— I  would  never  more  set  foot  in  my  father's  house  again, 
after  he  had  once  driven  me  from  it.  That  what  I  was  in 
duty  bound  to  bear  from  a  parent  had  here  reached  its  limits  ; 
that  nature's  bond  was  cancelled,  and  that  my  resolution  was 
as  firmly  fixed  as  the  stars  in  the  sky,  and  if  any  one  chose 
to  ridicule  it,  he  did  it  at  his  peril. 

With  these  words  I  sprang  from  the  table,  and  set  down 
the  glass  from  which  I  had  been  drinking,  so  violently,  that 
it  shivered  to  pieces.  For  the  stranger,  whose  evident  en- 
joyment of  my  story  had  at  times  encouraged  me,  and  at 
others  embarrassed,  when  I  came  .to  my  peroration,  which 
was  delivered  with  extreme  pathos,  burst  into  a  paroxysm  of 
laughter  which  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  end. 

"  You  have  been  kind  to  me,"  I  exclaimed  ;  "  true,  I  think 
I  could  have  held  my  own  without  your  assistance ;  but  no 
matter  for  that — you  came  to  my  help  at  the  right  moment, 
and  now  you  have  entertained  me  with  food  and  drink.  You 
are  welcome  to  laugh  as  much  as  you  please,  but  I,  for  my 
part,  will  not  stay  to  listen  to  it.     Farewell  !  " 

I  looked  round  for  my  cap  ;  then,  remembering  that  I  had 
none,  strode  to  the  door,  when  the  stranger,  who  in  the  mean- 
time had  also  risen  from  his  seat,  hastened  after  me,  caught 
me  by  the  arm,  and  in  the  grave  but  kindly  tone  that  had 
previously  so  charmed  me,  said  : 

"Young  man,  I  entreat  your  pardon.  And  now  come 
back  and  take  your  seat  again.  I  offer  you  the  word  of  a 
nobleman  that  I  will  respect  your  feelings,  even  if  your  ex- 
pression of  them  takes  a  somewhat  singular  form." 

His  dark  eyes  gleamed,  and  there  were  twitchings  in  the 
maze  of  wrinkles  that  surrounded  them. 

"  You  are  jesting  with  me,"  I  said. 


38 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"I  am  not,"  he  replied,  "upon  the  word  of  a  nobleman. 
On  the  contrary,  you  please  me  extremely,  and  I  was  sev- 
eral times  on  the  point  of  interrupting  your  story  to  ask  a 
favor  of  you.  Come  and  stay  awhile  with  me.  Whether 
you  are  reconciled  with  your  father,  as  I  hope,  or  if  the 
breach  be  past  closing,  as  you  believe,  at  all  events  you 
must  first  have  a  roof  over  your  head  ;  and  you  cannot  pos- 
sibly stay  here,  where  you  are  evidently  not  wanted.  As  I 
said,  I  will  feel  it  a  favor  if  you  will  accept  my  invitation.  I 
cannot  offer  you  much,  but — there  is  my  hand  !  Good  !  now 
we  will  pledge  good  fellowship  in  champagne." 

I  had  already,  forgiven  my  mysterious  but  amiable  ac- 
quaintance, and  pledged  him  in  the  sparkling  wine  with  all 
my  heart.  With  merriment  and  laughter  we  had  soon  emp- 
tied the  flask,  when  the  smith  entered.  He  had  thrown  off 
his  leather  apron,  donned  a  sailor's  jacket,  and  wrapped  a 
thick  muffler  round  his  muscular  neck.  It  now  struck  me 
for  the  first  time  that  he  had  not  on  the  great  blue  spectacles 
which  for  several  years  I  had  never  seen  him  without,  and 
which  he  wore  on  account  of  his  alleged  near-sightedness  : 
and  it  now  occurred  to  me  that  he  was  not  wearing  them  at 
the  time  of  our  quarrel.  Still,  I  might  be  mistaken  on  that 
point ;  but  I  had  no  time  to  reflect  upon  so  unimportant  a 
matter,  for  my  attention  was  at  once  fixed  by  some  words 
exchanged  in  a  low  tone  between  the  smith  and  the  stranger. 

"  Is  it  time  ?  "  asked  the  latter. 

"  It  is,"  replied  the  smith. 

"  The  wind  is  favorable  .-•  " 

"Yes." 

"  Everything  in  order .''  " 

"  Except  the  anchor,  which  you  would  not  let  me  finish.' 

"We  can  do  without  it." 

"Not  well." 

The  stranger  stood  for  a  few  moments  in  thought ;  his 
handsome  face  seemed  suddenly  to  have  grown  twenty  years 
older ;  he  stroked  his  beard,  and  I  noticed  that  he  was  ob- 
serving me  from  the  corner  of  his  eye.  He  then  caught  the 
smith  by  the  arm  and  led  him  out  of  the  door,  which  he 
closed  behind  him.  Outside  the  door  I  heard  them  talking, 
but  could  make  out  nothing,  for  the  stranger  spoke  in  a  sub- 
dued voice,  and  the  smith's  growling  speech  was  at  all  times 


*| 


% 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  39 

difficult  to  understand ;  presently,  however,  the  dialogue 
grew  louder,  and,  as  it  seemed,  more  and  more  vehement, 
especially  on  the  part  of  the  smith. 

"  I  will  have  it  so  !  "  cried  the  stranger. 

"  And  I  say  no  !  "  maintained  the  smith. 

"  It  is  my  affair." 

"And  my  affair  as  well." 

The  voices  sank  again,  and  presently  I  heard  the  outer 
door  creak.  They  had  left  the  forge  ;  I  stepped  to  the 
open  window  and  saw  them  go  to  the  little  shed  close  to  the 
beach,  by  which  Pinnow's  boat  was  usually  drawn  up  on  the 
sand.  They  disappeared  in  the  shadow  of  the  shed ;  then 
I  heard  a  chain  rattle,  and  a  grating  on  the  sand  ;  they  were 
launching  the  boat.  All  was  then  still :  the  only  sounds 
audible  were  the  stronger  roaring  of  the  sea,  mingled  with 
the  rush  of  the  wind  in  the  leaves  of  the  old  oak,  which 
threw  its  half-decayed  boughs  over  the  forge. 

I  heard  a  rustling  in  the  room,  and  turned  quickly  round. 
It  was  Christel  ;  she  stood  behind  me,  looking  with  an  in- 
tense gaze,  as  I  had  just  done,  through  the  window  into  the 
darkness. 

"  Well,  Christel  !  "  I  said. 

She  placed  her  finger  on  her  lips,  and  whispered,  "  Hush ! " 
then  beckoned  me  from  the  window.  Surprised  rather  than 
alarmed,  I  followed  her. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Christel  ? " 

"  Don't  go  with  them,  whatever'  you  do.  And  go  away 
from  here  at  once.  .  You  cannot  stay  here." 

"  But,  Christel,  why  not  ?     And  who  is  the  gentleman  ? " 

"  I  must  not  tell  you  ;  I  must  not  speak  his  name.  If 
you  go  with  them,  you  will  learn  it  soon  enough  ;  but  do 
not  go  !  " 

"  Why  >     What  will  they  do  to  me,  Christel  ?  " 

"  Do  ?  They  will  do  nothing  to  you.  But  do  not  go  with 
them." 

A  noise  was  heard  outside ;  Christel  turned  away  and 
began  clearing  the  table,  while  the  voices  of  the  two  who 
were  returning  from  the  beach  came  nearer  and  nearer. 

I  do  not  know  what  another  would  have  done  in  my  place  ; 
I  can  only  say  that  the  girl's  warning  produced  upon  me  an 
effect  precisely  opposite   to   that   intended.      True,  I  well 


40  -  Haynmcr  and  Anvil. 

remember  that  my  heart  beat  quicker,  and  that  I  cast  a  hur- 
ried glance  at  the  four  double-barrels  and  the  long  fowling- 
piece  that  hung  in  the  old  places  on  the  wall  ;  but  the 
desire  to  go  through  with  the  adventure  was  now  fully 
awaked  in  me.  I  felt  equal  to  any  danger  that  might  beset 
me  ;  and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  Christel  had  just  said  that 
no  harm  was  intended  to  me. 

Besides — and  this  circumstance  is,  perhaps,  the  real  key  to 
my  conduct  that  evening — the  stranger,  whoever  he  might 
be,  with  his  partly  serious  and  partly  jocose,  half-sympathetic 
and  half-mocking  language,  had  somehow  established  a  mys- 
terious influence  over  me.  In  later  years,  when  I  heard  the 
legend  of  the  Piper  of  Hameln,  whom  the  children  were 
irresistibly  compelled  to  follow,  I  at  once  recalled  this  night 
and  the  stranger. 

He  now  appeared  at  the  door,  dre.ised  in  a  coarse,  wide 
sailor's  jacket,  and  wearing  a  low-crowned  tarpaulin  hat  in 
place  of  his  cloth  cap.  Pinnow  opened  a  press  in  the  wall, 
and  produced  a  similar  outfit  for  me,  which  the  stranger 
made  me  put  on. 

"  It  is  turning  cold,"  he  remarked,  "  and  your  present 
dress  will  be  but  little  protection  to  you,  though  I  trust  our 
passage  will  be  a  short  one.  So  :  now  you  are  equipped 
capitally  :  now  let  us  be  off." 

The  smith  had  stepped  to  Christel  and  whispered  her  a 
few  words,  to  which  she  made  no  reply.  She  had  turned 
her  back  upon  me  since-  the  men  had  entered,  and  did  not 
once  turn  her  head  as  I  bade  her  good-night. 

"  Come  on,"  said  the  stranger. 

We  went  through  the  forge,  where  the  fire  had  now  burnt 
down,  and  stepped  out  into  the  windy  night.  After  proceed- 
ing a  few  steps,  I  turned  my  head  :  the  light  in  the  living- 
room  was  extinguished  ;  the  house  lay  dark  in  the  darkness, 
and  the  wind  roared  and  moaned  in  the  dry  branches  of  the 
old  oak. 

The  noise  of  the  sea  had  increased  ;  the  wind  had  fresh- 
ened to  a  stiff  breeze  ;  the  moon  had  set  ;  no  star  shone 
through  the  scudding  clouds  which  from  time  to  time  were 
lighted  with  a  lurid  gleam,  followed  by  a  mutter  of  distant 
thunder. 

We  reached    the    boat  which  was    already  half  in   the 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  41 

water,  and  they  made  me  get  on  board,  while  the  stranger, 
Pinnow,  and  the  deaf  and  dumb  Jacob,  who  had  suddenly 
made  his  appearance  out  of  the  darkness,  and  was,  as  well 
as  I  could  make  out,  also  in  sailor's  dress  and  fisherman's 
boots  —  pushed  off.  In  a  few  minutes  we  were  flying 
through  the  water  ;  the  stranger  stood  at  the  helm,  but  pres- 
ently yielded  it  to  Pfhnow,  when  the  latter  with  Jacob's 
assistance  had  finished  setting  the  sails,  and  took  his  seat 
beside  me. 

"  Now,  how  do  you  like  this  }  "  he  asked  me. 

"  Glorious  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  But  I  think,  Pinnow,  that 
you  had  better  take  in  another  reef;  we  are  carrying  too 
much  sail,  and  over  yonder  " — I  pointed  to  the  west — "  it 
has  an  ugly  look." 

"  You  seem  to  be  no  greenhorn,"  said  the  stranger. 

Pinnow  made  no  reply  but  gave  the  hasty  order  :  "  Take 
in  the  foresail,"  at  the  same  time  putting  up  the  helm  and 
letting  the  boat  fall  off  the  wind.  It  was  not  a  moment  too 
soon,  for  a  squall  striking  us  an  instant  after  made  her 
careen  so  violently  that  I  thought  she  would  founder,  though 
luckily  she  righted  again.  The  jib  was  taken  in  altogether, 
and  the  foresail  now  hoisted  only  half-mast  high,  and 
under  this  canvas  we  flew  through  the  waves,  upon  whose 
whitening  crests  played  the  pale  glare  of  the  lightning  at 
ever  shorter  intervals,  and  still  louder  and  louder  followed 
the  roll  of  the  thunder. 

After  a  while  the  squall  abated  as  rapidly  as  it  had  come 
up,  and  the  stars  began  to  shine  here  and  there  through  the 
clouds.  I  came  aft — I  had  been  helping  Jacob  to  handle 
the  sails — and  took  my  seat  again  by  the  stranger.  He 
passed  his  hand  over  my  jacket : 

"  You  are  wet  to  the  skin,"  he  said. 

"  So  are  we  all,"  I  answered. 

"  But  you  are  not  used  to  it." 

"  But  I  am  nineteen." 

"  No  older  .?  " 

"  Not  two  months." 

"  You  are  a  man." 

I  felt  more  pride  from  this  short  speech  than  I  had  ever  felt 
shame  during  the  longest  diatribe  of  Professor  Lederer,  or  any 
of  my  other  teachers.     There  were  few  things  which  I  would 


42  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

not  have  been  willing  at  that  moment  to  attempt  had  the 
stranger  required  it  ;  but  he  offered  no  compact  with  the 
powers  of  darkness,  nor  anything  of  the  sort,  but  only  ad- 
vised me  to  lie  down  in  the  boat  and  be  covered  with  a  piece 
of  canvas,  as  the  trip  was  likely  to  last  longer  than  had  been 
expected,  the  wind  having  hauled  rQgp[jb  another  quarter ; 
I  could  be  of  no  more  service  nox^^fand  "  Sleep  is  a  warm 
cloak,  as  Sancho  Panza  says,"  he  added. 

I  protested,  affirming  that  I  could  keep  awake  for  three 
days  and  three  nights  together  ;  but  I  yielded  to  his  insist- 
ence, and  had  hardly  stretched  myself  on  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  when  sleep,  which  I  had  thought  so  far,  fell  upon  me 
heavy  as  lead. 

How  long  I  slept  I  do  not  exactly  know  ;  but  I  was  awak- 
ened by  the  grating  of  the  keel  upon  the  sand  of  the  shore. 
The  stranger  helped  me  up,  but  I  was  still  so  heavy  with 
sleep  that  I  cannot  remember  how  I  got  ashore.  The  night 
was  still  dark  ;  I  could  distinguish  nothing  but  the  gleaming 
crests  of  the  waves  breaking  on  a  long  level  beach,  from 
which  the  land  rose  higher  as  it  ran  inward.  When  I  had 
recovered  my  full  consciousness  the  boat  had  already  pushed 
off;  my  unknown  friend  and  I  were  following  a  path  that 
ascended  among  trees.  He  held  me  by  the  hand,  and  in  a 
friendly,  pleasant  manner  pointed  out  the  various  irregulari- 
ties of  the  path,  in  which  he  seemed  to  know  every  stone  and 
every  projecting  root.  At  last  we  reached  the  top  of  the 
cliff;  before  us  lay  the  open  country,  and  in  the  distance  a 
dark  pile,  which  I  gradually  made  out,  in  the  dawning  light, 
to  be  a  mass  of  buildings,  with  a  park  or  wood  of  immense 
trees. 

"  Here  we  are,"  said  the  stranger  at  last,  as,  after  passing 
through  a  silent  court-yard,  we  stood  before  a  great  dark 
building. 

"  Where  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  At  my  house,"  he  responded,  laughing.  We  were  now 
standing  in  the  hall,  and  he  was  trying  to  light  a  match. 

"  And  where  is  that  ?  "  I  asked  again.  I  could  not  my- 
self have  told  how  I  found  the  boldness  to  put  this  question. 

The  match  kindled  ;  he  lighted  a  lamp  which  was  in  read- 
iness, and  the  light  fell  upon  his  long  dishevelled  beard  and 
haggard  face,  in  which  the  rain  and  surf  seemed  to  have 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  43 

deepened  every  wrinkle  to  a  fold  and  every  fold  to  a  furrow. 
He  looked  at  me  fixedly  with  his  large  deep-set  eyes. 

"  At  Zehrendorf, "  he  replied,  "  the  house  of  Malte  von 
Zehren,  whom  they  call  '  The  Wild.'  You  don't  regret 
having  come  with  me  .''  " 

"  That  I  do  not,"  I  answered  him  with  energy. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ON  awaking  the  next  morning,  it  was  long  ere  I  could 
arrive  at  a  clear  consciousness  of  my  situation.  My 
sleep  had  been  disturbed  by  frightful  dreams,  which 
had  left  an  oppression  unon  my  spirits.  It  still  seemed  to 
me  that  I  heard  my  father's  voice,  when  a  part  of  my  dream 
recurred  to  my  memory.  I  had  been  fleeing  from  my  father, 
and  came  to  a  smooth  pond,  into  which  I  threw  myself,  to 
escape  by  swimming.  But  the  smooth  pond  suddenly  changed 
into  a  stormy  sea,  upon  whose  waves  I  was  now  tossed  to- 
wards heaven,  and  now  plunged  into  the  abyss.  I  was  para- 
lyzed with  terror  ;  and  strove  in  vain  to  call  to  my  father  for 
help,  while  my  father  did  not  see  me,  although  he  ran  up 
and  down  the  shore,  within  reach  of  me,  wringing  his  hands 
and  breaking  into  loud  lamentations  over  his  drowned  son. 
I  passed  my  hand  repeatedly  over  my  brow  to  drive  away 
the  frightful  images,  and  opened  my  eyes  and  looking 
around,  found  myself  in  the  room  into  which  my  host  had 
conducted  me  on  the  previous  night.  The  light  in  the  great 
bare  apartment  was  so  dim,  that  I  thought  at  first  it  must  be 
very  early ;  but  my  watch  had  stopped  at  nine,  and  on  ex- 
amination I  discovered  that  this  greenish  twilight  was  pro- 
duced by  the  thick  foliage  of  trees  whose  branches  touched 
the  solitary  window.  At  this  moment  a  ray  of  sunlight  found 
its  way  through  some  aperture,  and  fell  upon  the  wall  in  front 
of  me,  upon  which  I  at  first  thought  the  most  singular  and 
fantastic  figures  were  painted,  until  closer  observation 
showed  me  that  the  dark  hangings  had  here  and  there  de- 
tatched  themselves  from  the  lighter  ground,  and  hung  in  ir- 


44  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

regular  strips,  which  seemed  the  strange  garments  of  gro- 
tesque forms. 

Altogether  the  appearance  of  the  room  was  as  inhospi- 
table as  it  well  could  be :  the  plaster  in  several  places  had 
fallen  from  the  ceiling,  and  lay  in  white  fragments  upon  the 
floor,  which  was  laid  in  parquetry,  but  now  cracked  in  all 
directions.  The  whole  furniture  consisted  of  a  great  cano- 
pied bed,  the  curtains  of  which  were  of  faded  green  damask  \ 
two  high-backed  chairs,  covered  with  siniilar  materials,  one 
of  which  posessed  its  normal  complement  of  legs,  while  the 
other,  which  in  years  had  not  yet  learned  to  stand  upon 
three,  was  propped  against  the  wall ;  and  finally,  a  pine  wash- 
stand  painted  white,  in  singular  contrast  to  the  great  oval 
mirror  in  a  rich  antique  rococo  frame,  which  hung  above  it  \ 
although  it  is  true  that  the  gilding  on  this  piece  of  magnifi- 
cence was  in  many  places  tarnished  by  age. 

I  made  these  observations  while  putting  on  my  clothes, 
which  in  the  short  time  I  had  slept  by  no  means  dried  as 
thoroughly  as  I  could  have  desired.  But  this  was  but  a  trifl- 
ing discomfort :  the  thought  that  troubled  me  was,  how 
should  I  dress  myself  the  next  day,  and  after .''  upon  which 
followed  the  associate  reflection  : — what  was  going  to  become 
of  me  altogether  "> 

The  answer  to  this  question  was  by  no  means  clear ;  and 
after  some  consideration  I  hit  upon  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  as  well,  before  I  came  to  a  decision — which  in  any  event 
was  not  a  matter  of  such  instant  urgency — to  consult  my 
friendly  host  upon  the  subject.  Singular  enough  !  up  to  this 
day  I  had  always  rejected  the  advice  of  those  whose  position 
and  knowledge  best  qualified  them  to  give  it,  and  had  al- 
ways maintained  that  I  knew  best  what  I  had  to  do ;  and 
now  I  found  myself  looking  with  a  sort  of  superstitious  re- 
liance to  a  man  whom  I  had  but  just  learned  to  know,  and  that 
under  circumstances  by  no  means  of  a  nature  to  inspire  con- 
fidence, and  whose  name  was  in  evil  repute,  far  and  near. 
It  was  in  this  fact,  possibly,  that  lay  the  greatest  attraction 
for  me.  "  The  Wild  Zehren  "  had  held  a  place  in  my  boy- 
ish imagination  by  the  side  of  Rinaldo  Rinaldini  and  Karl 
Moor  ;  and  I  had  keenly  envied  my  friend  Arthur,  who  used 
to  tell  the  wildest  stories  about  him,  the  possession  of  such 
an  uncle. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  45 

Of  late  years  he  had  been  less  talked  about :  I  once  heard 
the  steuerrath,  in  a  public  garden,  in  the  presence  of  my 
father  and  others,  thanking  God  that  the  '•  mad  fellow  "  had 
at  last  shown  some  signs  of  reformation,  and  the  family 
might  consider  itself  relieved  from  the  perpetual  fear  that 
sooner  or  later  he  would  come  to  some  bad  end.  At  the 
same  time  some  allusions  were  made  to  a  daughter,  at  which 
several  of  the  gentlemen  whispered  together,  and  Justizrath 
Heckepfennig  shrugged  his  shoulders.  Later,  Arthur  told 
me  that  his  cousin  had  eloped  with  a  young  tutor,  but  had 
not  gone  far,  as  his  uncle  gave  chase  to  the  fugitives  and 
caught  them  before  they  reached  the  ferry.  She  was  very 
beautiful,  he  said  further,  and  on  that  account  he  the  more 
regretted  that  his  father  and  his  uncle  were  on  such  unfriendly 
terms,  for,  owing  to  this  disagreement,  he  had  never  seen 
Constance  (I  remembered  the  name)  but  once,  and  that  was 
when  she  was  a  child. 

All  this  and  much  more  in  this  connection  came  into  my 
mind  while  I  finished  my  simple  toilet  before  the  dim  mirror 
with  the  tarnished  rococo  frame  ;  and  as  I  thought  of  the 
pretty  cousin,  I  felt  chagrin  at  the  tardy  development  of 
the  beard  that  had  begun  to  sprout  on  my  upper  lip.  I 
caught  up  the  sailor's  hat  which  I  had  brought  with  me 
when  I  landed,  and  left  the  room  to  look  for  Herr  von  Ze- 
hren. 

Pretty  soon  it  became  evident  that  this  very  natural  inten- 
tion was  not  so  easy  of  accomplishment.  The  room  which 
I  left  had,  luckily,  only  two  doors  in  it ;  but  that  which  I 
entered  had  three,  so  that  I  had  to  make  a  choice  between 
two,  not  including  that  which  led  into  my  chamber.  Appar- 
ently I  did  not  hit  upon  the  right  one,  for  I  came  upon  a 
narrow  corridor,  very  dimly  lighted  through  a  closed  and 
curtained  glass  door.  Another  which  I  tried,  opened  into 
a  hall  of  stateliest  dimensions,  the  three  windows  of  which 
looked  out  upon  a  large  park-like  garden.  From  this  hall  I 
passed  into  a  great  two-windowed  room  looking  upon  the 
court,  and  from  this  one  happily  back  to  the  one  adjoining 
my  chamber,  from  which  I  had  set  out.  I  had  to  laugh  when  I 
made  this  discovery,  but  my  laughter  sounded  so  strangely 
hollow  as  to  check  my  mirth  at  once.  And  indeed  it  was 
no  wonder  if  laughter  had  a  strange  sound  in  these  empty 


46  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

rooms,  which  seemed  as  if  they  had  heard  few  sounds  of 
merriment  In  recent  times,  however  joyous  they  might  have 
been  in  years  by-gone.  Yox  this  room  was  just  as  bare  and 
cheerless  as  that  in  which  I  had  slept ;  with  just  such  ragged 
hangings,  crumbling  ceilings,  and  worm-eaten,  half  ruinous 
furniture,  which  might  once  have  adorned  a  princely  apart- 
ment. And  so  was  it  with  the  other  rooms,  which  I  now 
examined  again  more  attentively  than  at  first.  Everywhere 
the  same  signs  of  desolation  and  decay  ;  everywhere  mourn- 
ful evidences  of  vanished  splendor  :  here  and  there  upon 
the  walls  hung  life-size  portraits,  which  seemed  to  be 
spectrally  fading  into  the  dark  background  from  which  they 
had  once  shone  brilliantly  \  in  one  room  lay  immense  piles 
of  books  in  venerable  leather  bindings,  among  which  a  pair 
of  rats  dived  out  of  sight  as  I  entered  ;  in  another,  otherwise 
entirely  empty,  was  a  harp  with  broken  chords,  and  the 
scabbard  of  a  dress-sword,  with  its  broad  silken  scarf. 
Everywhere  rubbish,  dust  and  cobwebs  ;  windows  dim  with 
neglect,  except  where  their  broken  panes  offered  a  free  pas- 
sage to  the  birds  that  had  scattered  straw  and  dirt  around — 
to  a  plaster  cornice  still  clung  a  pair  of  abandoned  swallow's 
nests  ;  everywhere  a  stifling,  musty  atmosphere  of  ruin  and 
decay. 

After  I  had  wandered  through  at  least  a  half  dozen  more 
rooms,  a  lucky  turn  brought  me  into  a  spacious  hall,  from 
which  descended  a  broad  oaken  staircase  adorned  with  an- 
tique carved  work.  This  staircase  also,  that  once  with  its 
stained  windows,  its  dark  panels  reaching  almost  to  the  ceil- 
ing, its  antlers,  old  armor,  and  standards,  must  have  pre- 
sented an  unusually  stately  and  imposing  appearance,  offered 
the  same  dreary  picture  of  desolation  as  the  rest ;  and  I 
slowly  descended  it  amazed,  and  to  a  certain  extent  con- 
founded, by  all  that  I  had  seen.  More  than  one  step 
cracked  and  yielded  as  I  placed  my  foot  upon  it,  and  as  I 
instinctively  laid  my  hand  upon  the  broad  balustrade,  the 
wood  felt  singularlily  soft,  but  it  was  from  the  accumulated 
dust  of  years,  into  which,  indeed,  the  whole  stair  seemed 
slowly  dissolving. 

I  knew  that  I  had  not  come  this  way  the  previous  night, 
when  my  host  conducted  me  to  my  chamber.  A  steep  stair, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  led  from  a  side  hall  directly  to  that 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  47 

dark  corridor  which  adjoined  the  room  I  had  occupied.  I 
had,  therefore,  never  before  been  in  the  great  hall  in  which 
I  was  now  standing ;  and  as  I  did  not  wish  to  go  knocking 
in  vain  at  half-a-dozen  doors,  and  the  great  house-door  that 
fronted  the  stairs,  proved  to  be  locked,  I  succeeded  with 
some  difficulty  in  opening  a  back-door,  which  luckily  was 
only  bolted,  and  entered  a  small  court.  The  low  buildings 
surrounding  this,  had  probably  been  used  as  kitchens,  or 
served  other  domestic  purposes  in  former  times  ;  but  at 
present  they  were  all  vacant,  and  looked  up  piteously  with 
their  empty  window-frames  and  crumbling  tile-roofs  to  the 
bare  and  ruinous  main-building,  as  a  pack  of  half-starved 
dogs  to  a  master  who  himself  has  nothing  to  eat. 

I  was  no  longer  a  child  :  my  organization  was  far  from 
being  a  susceptible  one,  nor  did  I  ever  lightly  fall  into  the 
fantastic  mood  ;  but  I  confess,  that  a  strange  and  weird  sen- 
sation came  over  me  among  these  corpses  of  houses  from 
which  the  life  had  evidently  long  since  departed.  So  far  I 
had  not  come  upon  the  slightest  trace  of  active  human  life. 
As  it  was  now,  so  it  must  have  been  for  years,  a  trysting 
place  and  tilt  yard  for  owls  and  sparrows,  rats  and  mice. 
Just  so  might  have  looked  a  castle  enchanted  by  the  wicked- 
est of  all  witches  ;  and  I  do  not  think  that  I  should  have  been 
beyond  measure  astonished,  if  the  hag  had  herself  arisen, 
with  bristling  hair,  from  the  great  kettle  in  the  wash-house, 
into  which  I  cast  a  glance,  and  flown  up  through  the  wide 
chimney  upon  one  of  the  broom-sticks  that  were  lying  about. 

This  wash-house  had  a  door  opening  upon  a  little  yard 
surrounded  by  a  hedge,  and  divided  by  a  deep  trench, 
bridged  by  a  half-rotten  plank  ;  which  yard,  as  was  evident 
from  the  egg-shells  and  bones  scattered  about,  had  formerly 
been  a  receptacle  for  the  refuse  of  the  kitchen,  but  grass 
had  grown  over  the  old  rubbish-heaps,  and  a  pair  of  wild 
rabbits  darted  at  sight  of  me  into  their  burrows  in  the  trench. 
They  might  possibly  preserve  some  legend  of  a  time  when 
the  trench  had  been  full  of  water,  and  these  burrows  the 
habitations  of  water-rats,  but  at  such  a  remote  period  of 
antiquity  that  the  whole  tradition  ran  into  the  mythical. 

Hearing  a  sound  at  hand  which  seemed  to  indicate  the 
presence  of  a  human  being,  I  pushed  through  the  hedge 
into  the  garden,  and  following  the  direction  of  the  sound, 


.1 


48  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

found  an  old  man  who  was  loading  a  small  cart  with  pales, 
which  he  was  breaking  with  a  hatchet  out  of  a  high  stock- 
ade. This  stockade  had  evidently  once  served  as  the  fence 
of  a  deer-park  ;  in  the  high  grass  lay  the  ruins  of  two  deer- 
sheds  blown  down  by  the  wind  :  the  stags  who  used  to  feed 
from  the  racks,  and  try  their  antlers  against  the  paling,  had 
probably  long  since  found  their  way  to  the  kitchen,  and  why 
should  the  paling  itself  not  follow  ? 

So  at  least  thought  the  withered  old  man  whom  I  found 
engaged  in  this  singular  occupation.  When  he  first  came 
upon  the  estate,  which  was  in  the  life-time  of  the  present 
owner's  father,  there  were  forty  head  of  deer  in  the  park,  he 
said ;  but  in  the  year  '12,  when  the  French  landed  upon  the 
island  and  took  up  quarters  in  the  castle,  more  than  half 
were  shot,  and  the  rest  broke  out  and  were  never  recovered, 
though  a  part  were  afterwards  killed  in  the  neighboring 
forest  which  belonged  to  Prince  Prora. 

After  giving  me  this  information,  the  old  man  fell  to  his 
work  again,  and  I  tried  in  vain  to  draw  him  into  further  con- 
versation. His  communicativeness  was  exhausted,  and  only 
with  difficulty  could  I  get  from  him  that  the  master  had  gone 
out  shooting,  and  would  scarcely  be  back  before  evening, 
perhaps  not  so  soon. 

"  And  the  young  lady  ?  " 

"  Most  likely  up  yonder,"  said  the  old  man,  pointing  with 
his  axe-handle  in  the  direction  of  the  park ;  then  slipping 
the  straps  of  his  cart  over  his  decrepit  shoulders,  he  slowly 
dragged  it  along  the  grass-grown  path  towards  the  castle.  I 
watched  him  till  he  disappeared  behind  the  bushes  ;  for  a 
while  I  could  still  hear  the  creaking  of  his  cart,  and  then  all 
was  silent. 

Silence  without  a  sound,  just  as  in  the  ruinous  castle. 
But  here  the  silence  had  nothing  oppressive  \  the  sky  here 
was  blue,  without  even  the  smallest  speck  of  cloud ;  here 
shone  the  bright  morning  sun,  throwing  the  shadows  of  the 
aged  oaks  upon  the  broad  meadows,  and  sparkling  in  the 
rain-drops  which  the  night's  storm  had  left  upon  the  bushes. 
Now  and  then  a  light  breeze  stirred,  and  the  long  sprays, 
heavy  with  rain,  waved  languidly,  and  the  tall  spires  of  grass 
bent  before  it. 

It  was  all  very  beautiful.     I  inhaled  deep  draughts  of  the 


Hammer  and  A7ivil.  49 

cool  sweet  air,  and  once  more  felt  the  sense  of  delight  that 
had  come  over  me  the  evening  before,  as  the  wild  swans 
swept  above  me,  high  in  air.  How  often,  in  after  days,  have 
I  thought  of  that  evening  and  this  morning,  and  confessed 
to  myself  that  I  then,  in  spite  of  all,  in  spite  of  my  folly  and 
frivolity  and  misconduct,  was  happy,  unspeakably  happy — a 
short  lived,  treacherous  bliss,  it  is  true,  but  still  bliss — a 
paradise  in  which  I  could  not  stay,  from  which  the  stern  re- 
alities of  life,  and  nature  itself,  expelled  me — and  yet  a 
paradise  ! 

Slowly  loitering  on,  I  penetrated  deeper  into  the  green 
wilderness,  for  wilderness  it  was.  The  path  was  scarcely 
distinguishable  amid  the  luxuriant  weeds  and  wild  over- 
growth of  bushes — the  path  which  in  by-gone  days  had  been 
swept  by  the  trains  of  ladies  fair,  and  by  which  the  little  feet 
of  children  had  merrily  tripped  along.  The  surface  grew 
hilly;  at  the  end  lay  the  park,  and  over  me  venerable  beeches 
arched  their  giant  boughs.  Again  the  path  descended  to- 
wards an  opening  in  the  forest,  and  I  stood  upon  the  margin 
of  a  moderately  large,  circular  tarn,  in  whose  black  water 
were  reflected  the  great  trees  that  surrounded  it  nearly  to 
the  edge. 

A  few  steps  further,  upon  a  slightly  elevated  spot,  at  the 
foot  of  a  tree  whose  gigantic  size  seemed  the  growth  of  cen- 
turies, was  a  low  bank  of  moss  ;  upon  the  bank  lay  a  book 
and  a  glove.  I  looked  and  listened  on  all  sides  :  all  was  still 
as  death  :  only  the  sunlight  played  through  the  green  sprays, 
and  now  and  then  a  leaf  fluttered  down  upon  the  dark  water 
of  the  tarn. 

I  could  not  resist  an  impulse  of  curiosity  :  I  approached 
the  bank  and  took  up  the  book.  It  was  Eichendorf  s  "  Life 
of  a  Good-for-Nothing."  I  had  never  seen  the  book,  nor  even 
heard  of  the  author ;  but  could  not  refrain  from  smiling  as 
I  read  the  title  :  it  was  as  though  some  one  had  called  me 
by  name.  But  at  that  time  I  cared  little  for  books  :  so  I  re- 
placed it,  open,  as  I  had  found  it,  and  picked  up  the  glove, 
not,  however,  without  another  cautious  glance  around,  to  see 
if  the  owner  might  not  be  a  witness  of  my  temerity. 

This  glove,  I  at  once  divined,  belonged  to  Arthur's  beauti- 
ful cousin — whose  else  could  it  be  ?  The  inference  was  sim- 
ple enough  ;  and,  indeed,  the  circumstance  of  a  young  lady 
3 


\ 


5o  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

leaving  her  glove  on  the  spot  where  she  had  been  resting, 
had  nothing  in  it  remarkable.  But  the  fancy  of  a  youth  of 
my  temperament  is  not  fettered  ;  and  I  confess  that  as  I  held 
the  little  delicate  glove  in  my  hand,  and  inhaled  its  faint  per- 
fume, my  heart  began  to  beat  very  unreasonably.  I  had 
walked,  times  without  number,  past  Emilie  Heckepfennig's 
window  in  hope  of  a  glance  from  that  charmer  ;  and  had 
even  worn  on  my  heart,  for  weeks  together,  a  ribbon  which 
she  once  gave  me  as  I  was  dancing  with  her  ;  but  that  rib- 
bon never  gave  me  such  feelings  as  did  this  little  glove  ;  there 
must  have  been  some  enchantment  about  it. 

I  threw  myself  upon  the  bank  of  moss,  and  indulged  my 
fancy  in  the  wild  dreams  of  a  youth  of  nineteen  ;  at  times 
laying  the  glove  on  the  seat  beside  me,  and  then  taking  it  up 
again  to  scrutinize  it  with  ever  closer  attention,  as  though  it 
were  the  key  to  the  mystery  of  my  life. 

I  had  been  sitting  thus  perhaps  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  when 
I  suddenly  started  up  and  listened.  As  if  from  the  sky 
there  came  a  sound  of  music  and  singing,  faint  at  first,  then 
louder,  and  finally  I  distinguished  a  soft  female  voice,  and 
the  tinkling  notes  of  a  guitar.  The  voice  was  singing  what 
seemed  the  refrain  of  a  song : 

"  All  day  long  the  bright  sun  loves  me  ; 
All  day  long." 

"All  day  long,"  it  was  repeated,  now  quite  close  at  hand, 
and  I  now  perceived  the  singer,  who  had  been  concealed 
from  me  hitherto  by  the  great  trunks  of  the  beeches. 

She  was  coming  down  a  path  which  descended  rather 
steeply  among  the  trees,  and  as  she  came  to  a  spot  upon 
which  the  bright  sunshine  streamed  through  a  canopy  of 
leaves,  she  paused  and  looked  thoughtfully  upwards,  pre- 
senting a  picture  which  is  inefFaceably  imprinted  upon  my 
memory,  and  even  now  after  so  many  years  it  comes  back  to 
me  vividly  as  ever. 

A  charming,  deep  brunette,  whose  exquisitely  propor- 
tioned form  made  her  stature  appear  less  than  it  really  was  ; 
and  whose  somewhat  fantastic  dress  of  a  dark  green  mate- 
•  rial,  trimmed  with  gold  braid,  admirably  accorded  with  her 
striking,  almost  gypsy-like  appearance.  She  carried  a  small 
guitar  suspended  around  her  neck  with  a  red  ribbon,  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  51 

her  fingers  played  over  its  chords  like  the  rays  of  sunlight 
over  the  lightly  waving  sprays. 

Poor  Constance  !  Child  of  the  sun  !  Why,  if  it  loved 
thee  so  well,  did  it  not  slay  thee  now  with  one  of  these  rays, 
that  I  might  have  made  thee  a  grave  in  this  lonely  forest- 
glade,  far  from  the  world  for  which  thy  heart  so  passionately 
yearned — thy  poor  foolish  heart ! 

I  was  standing  motionless,  fascinated  by  the  vision,  when 
with  a  deep  sigh  she  seemed  to  awake  from  a  reverie,  and 
as  she  descended  the  path  her  eyes  and  mine  met.  I 
noticed  that  she  started  lightly,  as  one  who  meets  a  human 
being  where  he  only  expected  to  see  the  stem  of  a  tree :'  but 
the  surprise  was  but  momentary,  and  I  observed  that  she 
regarded  me  from  under  her  drooped  lids,  and  a  transient 
smile  played  round  her  lips  ;  in  truth,  a  beautiful  maiden, 
conscious  of  Tier  beauty  could  scarcely  have  seen  without  a 
smile  the  amazed  admiration,  bordering  on  stupefaction, 
depicted  in  my  face. 

Whether  she  or  I  was  the  first  to  speak  I  do  not  now 
remember ;  and  indeed  I  clearly  retain,  of  this  our  first  con- 
versation, only  the  memory  of  the  tones  of  her  soft  and 
somewhat  deep  voice,  which  to  my  ear  was  like  exquisite 
music.  We  must  have  ascended  together  from  the  forest- 
dell  to  the  upland,  and  the  sea-breeze  must  have  awakened 
me  to  a  clearer  consciousness,  for  I  can  still  see  the  calm,  blue 
water  stretching  in  boundless  expanse  around  us,  the  white 
streaks  of  foam  lying  among  the  rocks  of  the  beach  perhaps 
a  hundred  feet  below,  and  a  pair  of  large  gulls  wheeling 
hither  and  thither,  and  then  dipping  to  the  water,  where  they 
gleamed  like  stars.  I  see  the  heather  of  the  upland  waving 
in  the  light  breeze,  hear  the  lapping  of  the  surf  among  the 
sharp  crags  of  the  shore,  and  amid  it  all  I  hear  the  voice 
of  Constance. 

"  My  mother  was  a  Spaniard,  as  beautiful  as  the  day,  and 
my  father,  who  had  gone  thither  to  visit  a  friend  he  had 
known  in  Paris,  saw  her,  and  carried  her  off.  The  friend 
was  my  mother's  brother,  and  he  loved  my  father  dearly,  but 
was  never  willing  that  they  should  marry,  because  he  was  a 
strict  Catholic,  and  my  father  would  never  consent  to  be- 
come a  Catholic,  but  laughed  and  mocked  at  all  religions. 
So  they  secretly  eloped  ;  but  my  uncle  pursued  and  overtook 


52  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

them  in  the  night,  upon  a  lonely  heath,  and  there  were  wild 
words  between  them,  and  then  swords  were  drawn,  and  my 
father  killed  the  brother  of  his  bride.  She  did  not  know 
this  mitil  long  afterwards  ;  for  she  fainted  during  the  fight, 
and  my  father  contrived  to  make  her  believe  that  he  had 
parted  from  his  brother-in-law  in  friendship.  Then  they 
came  to  this  place  ;  but  my  mother  always  pined  for  her 
home,  and  used  to  say  that  she  felt  a  weight  upon  her  heart, 
as  if  a  murder  were  resting  on  her  soul.  At  last  she  learned, 
through  an  accident,  the  manner  of  death  of  her  brother, 
whom  she  had  devotedly  loved  ;  and  so  she  grew  melancholy, 
and  wandered  about  day  and  night,  asking  every  one  whom 
she  met  which  was  the  road  to  Spain.  My  father  at  last  had 
to  shut  her  up  ;  but  this  she  could  not  endure,  and  became 
quite  raving,  and  tried  to  take  her  own  life,  until  they  let  her 
go  free  again,  when  she  wandered  about  as  before.  And 
one  morning  she  threw  herself  into  this  pool,  and  when  they 
drew  her  out  she  was  dead.  I  was  then  only  three  years 
old,  and  I  have  no  recollection  of  her  looks,  but  they  say  she 
was  handsomer  than  I  am." 

I  said  that  could  hardly  be  possible ;  and  I  said  it  with  so 
much  seriousness,  for  I  was  thinking  of  the  poor  woman  who 
had  drowned  herself  here,  that  Constance  again  smiled,  and 
said  I  was  certainly  the  best  creature  in  the  world,  and  that 
one  could  say  anything  to  me  that  came  into  one's  head  ; 
and  that  was  what  she  liked.  So  I  was  always  to  stay  with 
her,  she  said,  and  be  her  faithful  George,  and  slay  all  the 
dragons  in  the  world  for  her  sake.  Was  I  agreed  to  that .'' 
Indeed  was  I,  I  answered.  And  again  a  smile  played  over 
her  rosy  lips. 

"  You  look  as  if  you  would.  But  how  did  you  really  come 
here,  and  what  does  my  father  want  with  you  .''  He  gave 
me  a  special  charge  on  your  account  this  morning  before  he 
set  out ;  you  must  stand  high  in  his  favor,  for  he  does  not 
usually  give  himself  much  care  for  the  welfare  of  other  peo- 
ple. And  how  come  you  to  have  a  sailor's  hat  on,  and  a 
very  ugly  one  at  that .''  I  think  you  said  you  came  from 
school  ;  are  there  scholars  there  as  large  as  you  ?  I  never 
knew  that.     How  old  are  you  really  ?  " 

And  so  the  maiden  prattled  on — and  yet  it  was  not  prat- 
tling, for  she  remained  quite  serious  all  the  time,  and  it 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  53 

seemed  to  me  that  while  she  talked  her  mind  was  far  away; 
and  her  dark  eyes  but  seldom  were  turned  to  me,  and  then 
with  but  a  momentary  glance,  as  though  I  were  no  living 
man,  but  an  inanimate  figure  ;  and  frequently  she  put  a  sec- 
ond question  without  waiting  for  an  answer  to  the  first. 

This  suited  me  well,  for  thus  at  least  I  found  courage  to 
look  at  her  again  and  again,  and  at  last  scarcely  turned  my 
eyes  from  her.  "  You  will  fall  over  there,  if  you  do  not  take 
care,"  she  suddenly  said,  lightly  touching  my  arm  with  her 
finger,  as  we  stood  on  the  verge  of  a  cliff.  "  It  seems  you 
are  not  easily  made  giddy." 

"  No,  indeed,"  I  answered. 

"  Let  us  go  up  there,"  she  said. 

Upon  what  was  nearly  the  highest  part  of  the  promontory 
on  which  we  were,  were  the  ruins  of  a  castle,  overgrown 
with  thick  bushes.  But  a  single  massive  tower,  almost  en- 
tirely covered  with  ivy,  had  defied  the  power  of  the  sea  and 
of  time.  These  were  the  ruins  of  the  Zehrenbwrg,  to  which 
Arthur  had  pointed  yesterday,  as  we  passed  on  the  steamer  ; 
the  same  tower  on  which  I  was  to  fix  my  gaze  as  I  renounced 
in  his  favor  all  pretensions  to  Emilie  Heckepfennig.  This 
I  had  passionately  refused  to  do — ^yesterday :  what  was  Emi- 
lie Heckepfennig  to  me  to-day  .'' 

The  beautiful  girl  had  taken  her  seat  upon  a  mossy  stone, 
and  looked  fixedly  into  the  distance.  I  stood  beside  her, 
leaning  against  the  old  tower,  and  looked  fixedly  into  her  face. 

"  All  that,  once  was  ours,"  she  said,  slowly  sweeping  her 
hand  round  the  horizon  ;  "  and  this,  is  all  that  remains." 

She  rose  hastily,  and  began  to  descend  a  narrow  path 
which  led,  through  broom  and  heather,  from  the  heights 
down  to  the  forest.  I  followed.  We  came  to  the  beech- 
wood  again,  and  back  to  the  tarn,  where  her  book  and  guitar 
still  lay  upon  the  bank.  I  was  very  proud  when  she  gave 
me  both  to  carry,  saying  at  the  same  time  that  the  guitar  had 
been  her  mother's,  and  that  she  had  never  trusted  it  to  any 
one  before  ;  but  now  I  should  always  carry  this,  her  greatest 
treasure,  for  her,  and  she  would  teach  me  to  play  and  to  sing, 
if  I  stayed  with  them.  Or  perhaps  I  did  not  mean  to  stay 
with  them .? 

I  said  that  I  could  not  tell,  but  I  hoped  so  ;  and  the 
thought  of  going  away  fell  heavy  upon  my  heart. 


54  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

We  had  now  reached  the  castle.  "  Give  me  the  guitar," 
she  said,  '*  but  keep  the  book :  I  know  it  by  heart.  Have 
you  had  breakfast  ?  No  ?  Poor,  poor  George  !  it  is  hicky 
that  no  dragon  met  us  ;  you  would  have  been  hardly  able  to 
stand  upon  your  feet." 

A  side-door,  that  I  had  not  previously  noticed,  led  to  that 
part  of  the  ground-floor  inhabited  by  the  father  and  daugh- 
ter. Constance  called  an  old  female  servant,  and  directed 
her  to  prepare  me  some  breakfast,  and  then  she  left  me, 
after  giving  me  her  hand,  with  that  melancholy  transient 
smile  which  I  had  already  noted  on  her  beautiful  lips. 


-o- 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  breakfast  which  the  ugly,  taciturn  old  woman — 
whom  Constance  called  "  Pahlen  " — set  before  me 
after  about  half  an  hour,  might  well  have  been  ready 
in  less  time,  for  it  consisted  only  of  black  bread,  butter, 
cheese,  and  a  flask  of  cognac.  The  cognac  was  excellent ; 
but  the  remainder  of  the  repast  far  from  luxurious,  for  the 
bread  was  sour  and  mouldy  in  spots,  the  butter  rancid,  and 
the  cheese  hard  as  a  stone  ;  but  what  was  that  to  a  youth 
of  nineteen,  who  had  eaten  nothing  for  twelve  hours,  and 
whose  silly  heart,  moreover,  was  palpitating  with  its  first 
passion  !  So  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  never  had  a  more 
sumptuous  repast ;  and  I  thanked  the  old  woman  for  her 
trouble  with  the  utmost  politeness.  "  Pahlen  "  did  not  seem 
to  know  what  to  make  of  me.  She  looked  askance  at  me 
two  or  three  times,  with  a  sort  of  surly  curiosity ;  and  to  the 
questions  that  I  put  to  her,  replied  with  an  unintelligible 
grumbling,  out  of  which  I  could  make  nothing. 

The  room  in  which  I  now  found  myself — it  was  the  same 
into  which  Herr  von  Zehren  had  conducted  me  on  our  first 
arrival — might,  in  comparison  with  the  deserted  apartments 
of  the  upper  story,  be  called  habitable,  though  the  carpet 
under  the  table  was  ragged,  several  of  the  carved  oaken 
chairs  were  no  longer  firm  upon  their  legs,  and  a  great  an- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  55 

tique  bufifet  in  one  corner  had  decidedly  seen  better  days. 
The  windows  opened  upon  a  court,  into  which,  my  breakfast 
once  over,  I  cast  a  look.  This  court  was  very  spacious,  the 
barns  and  stables  that  enclosed  it  of  the  very  largest  dimen- 
sions, such  as  are  only  found  on  the  most  considerable  estates. 
So  much  the  more  striking  was  the  silence  that  prevailed  in 
it.  In  the  centre  of  the  space  was  a  dove-cot  built  of  stonf, 
but  no  wings  fluttered  about  it,  unless  perhaps  those  of  a 
passing  swallow.  There  was  a  duck-pond  without  ducks, 
a  dunghill  upon  which  no  fowls  were  scratching — one  pea- 
cock sat  upon  the  broken  paling — everything  seemed  dead 
or  departed.  Here  was  no  hurrying  to  and  fro  of  busy  men, 
no  lowing  of  cattle  or  neighing  of  horses — all  was  vacant 
and  silent ;  only  from  time  to  time  the  peacock  on  the  paling 
uttered  his  dissonant  cry,  and  the  sparrows  twittered  in  the 
twigs  of  an  old  linden. 

As  Constance  did  not  return,  and  as  Pahlen,  to  my  ques- 
tion about  the  dinner  hour,  responded  by  asking  me  if  I 
now  wanted  dinner  too,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  for 
some  hours  at  least  I  would  be  left  to  my  own  devices.  I 
therefore  walked  into  the  court,  an,d  then  perceived  that  this 
part  of  the  castle  was  an  addition,  which  formed  a  continua- 
tion to  the  main  building,  and  had  probably  served  as  the 
manager's  house.  In  the  castle  the  shutters  on  the  ground 
floor  were  closed,  and  secured  with  massive  iron  bars,  a  fact 
which  did  not  by  any  means  tend  to  give  the  old  pile  a  more 
cheerful  appearance.  That  a  manager's  house  had  long 
been  a  superfluous  appendage,  the  surroundings  plainly 
showed.  In  truth,  there  was  nothing  here  to  manage  ;  the 
buildings,  which  at  a  distance  still  presented  a  tolerable  ap- 
pearance, proved,  when  near,  to  be  little  better  than  crumb- 
ling ruins.  The  thatched  roofs  had  sunk  in  decay  and  were 
overgrown  with  moss,  the  ornamental  work  had  dropped 
away,  the  plaster  peeled  off  in  patches,  the  doors  hung  awry 
on  their  rusted  hinges,  and  in  many  places  were  entirely 
wanting.  A  stable  into  which  I  looked  had  been  originally 
built  to  accommodate  forty  horses ;  now  there  stood  in  a  corner 
four  lean  old  brutes  that  set  up  a  hungry  neighing  as  they 
saw  me.  As  I  came  out  again  into  the  court,  a  wagon,  partly 
laden  with  corn  and  dragged  by  four  other  miserable  jades,  went 
reeling  over  the  broken  stones  of  the  pavement,  and  disap- 


56  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

peared  in  the  yawning  doorway  of  one  of  the  immense  barns, 
like  a  coffin  in  a  vault. 

I  strolled  further  on,  passing  one  or  two  dilapidated  hovels, 
where  half-naked  children  were  playing  in  the  sand,  and  a 
couple  of  fellows,  more  like  bandits  than  farm-hands,  were 
lounging,  who  stared  at  me  with  looks  half  shy  half  insolent, 
and  reached  the  fields.  The  sun  shone  brightly  enough,  but 
it  lighted  up  little  that  was  pleasant  to  the  eye  :  waste  land, 
with  here  and  there  scattering  patches  of  sparse  oats,  over- 
grown with  blue  cornflowers  and  scarlet  poppies,  a  little 
rusted  wheat,  an  acre  or  so  where  the  rye — late  enough  for 
the  season — still  stood  in  slovenly  sheaves,  and  where  a 
second  wagon  was  being  laden  by  two  fellows  of  the  same 
bandit  appearance  as  the  men  at  the  hovels,  and  who  stared 
at  me  witti  the  same  surprised  and  skulking  looks,  without 
answering  my  salutation.  At  some  distance  appeared  through 
the  trees  and  bushes  the  roofs  of  farm-buildings,  evidently 
upon  another  estate,  to  which  belonged,  doubtless,  the  far 
better  cultivated  fields  which  I  had  now  reached.  Further 
to  the  right,  above  a  larger  collection  of  houses,  arose  the 
plain  white  steeple  of  a  church.  But  I  did  not  care  to  push 
my  exploration  further  :  an  impulse  drew  me  back  to  the 
park,  which  I  reached  by  a  circuitous  route  on  the  other 
side,  for  I  wished  to  avoid  the  castle  and  the  grumbling  old 
Pahlen. 

I  had  hoped  here  to  meet  Constance  again ;  but  in  vain 
did  I  listen  more  than  an  hour  under  the  trees  and  among 
the  bushes,  watching  the  castle  until  I  knew  by  heart  nearly 
every  broken  tile  upon  the  roof,  and  each  separate  patch — 
and  they  were  not  few — where  the  rains  of  so  many  years 
had  detached  the  plaster  and  laid  bare  the  stones  beneath. 
No  one  was  to  be  seen  ;  no  sound  was  audible  ;  while  the 
afternoon  sun  gleamed  upon  the  window-panes,  save  when 
the  shadow  of  a  passing  cloud  swept  over  them. 

My  spirits  began  to  yield  to  the  depressing  influences  of 
this  scene  of  sunlit  desolation.     I  felt  as  if  the  silence,  like  'j 

an  invisible  magic  net,  was  folding  around   me  closer  and  ^ 

closer,  until  I  scarcely  ventured  to  move — scarcely  to  speak. 
In  place  of  the  careless  audacity,  which  was  my  natural  tem- 
perament, a  deep  sadness  took  possession  of  me.  How 
came  I  here  ?    What  was  I  to  do  here — what  did  I  want  here, 


K 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  57 

where  no  one  troubled  himself  about  me  ?  Was  not  all  that 
had  happened  to  me  since  yesterday  only  a  dream,  and  had 
I  not  merely  dreamed  the  beauteous  maiden  with  the  dark 
eyes  and  strange  smile  ? 

A  sense  as  of  home-sickness  came  over  me.  I  saw  in 
fancy  the  town  with  the  narrow,  crooked  streets  running 
between  the  old-fashioned  gabled  houses  ;  I  saw  my  little 
room,  to  which  I  would  have  returned  from  school  by  this 
time  to  fling  my  wearisome  books  upon  the  table  and  then 
fly  to  my  friend  Arthur,  who  I  knew  had  arranged  a  boat 
excursion  in  the  harbor.  I  saw  my  father  sitting  at  the  win- 
dow of  his  bureau  in  the  excise-office,  and  crept  close  to  the 
wall  to  avoid  being  seen  by  him.  How  had  my  father  borne 
my  departure  ?  Was  he  anxious  about  me  ?  Assuredly  he 
was  ;  for  he  still  loved  me,  notwithstanding  our  mutual  alien- 
ation. What  would  he  do  when  he  learned — as  sooner  or 
later  he  must  learn — that  I  was  with  the  wild  Zehren .'' 
Would  he  allow  me  to  stay  ?  Would  he  command  me  to 
return  }     Perhaps  come  for  me  himself .-' 

As  this  thought  came  into  my  mind,  I  looked  uneasily 
around.  It  would  be  intolerable  to  have  to  go  back  to  the 
stifling  class-room,  to  be  scolded  again,  like  a  boy  by  Pro- 
fessor Lederer,  and  never  more  to  see  Friiulein  von  Zehren — 
Constance !  Never  would  I  endure  it !  My  father  had 
driven  me  from  his  house  ;  he  might  take  the  consequences. 
Rather  than  go  back,  I  would  turn  bandit — smuggler 

I  do  not  know  how  the  last  word  came  upon  my  lips,  but 
I  remember — and  I  have  since  often  thought  of  it — that 
when  I  had  uttered  the  word  half  aloud,  merely  as  a  heroi- 
cal  phrase,  without  attaching  any  distinct  meaning  to  it, 
I  suddenly  started  as  if  some  one  had  spoken  it  in  my 
immediate  vicinity ;  and  at  the  same  moment  the  adven- 
tures of  the  previous  night  and  what  I  had  since  observed, 
arranged  themselves  in  a  definite  connection,  just  as  one 
looking  through  a  telescope  sees  heaven  and  earth  blended 
together  in  dim  confusion,  until  the  right  focus  is  attained, 
when  a  distinct  picture  stands  before  him.  How  could  I 
have  been  so  blind — so  destitute  of  ordinary  apprehension  ? 
Herr  von  Zehren  over  at  Pinnow's,  the  strange  connection 
that  manifestly  existed  between  the  nobleman  and  the  smith, 
Christel's  warnings,  Pinnow's  behavior  towards  me,  and  the 

3* 


58  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

night  sail  in  the  terrible  storm  !  And  then  this  uncared-for 
house,  this  ruinous  farm-yard,  these  desolated  fields,  this 
neglected  park  !  The  solitary  situation  of  the  place,  upon  a 
promontory  extending  far  into  the  sea !  I  had  learned 
already  from  frequent  conversations  between  my  father  and 
his  colleagues  in  the  excise-office,  how  actively  smuggling 
was  carried  on  in  these  waters,  what  a  flourishing  business 
it  was,  and  how  much  might  be  made  at  it  by  any  one  who 
was  willing  to  peril  his  life  upon  occasion.  All  was  clear  as 
day ;  this,  and  no  other,  was  the  solution  of  the  mystery. 

"  You  must  be  mad,"  I  said  to  myself  again,  "  completely 
mad.  A  nobleman  like  Herr  von  Zehren  !  Such  doings  are 
for  the  rabble.  Old  Pinnow — ^yes,  yes,  that  is  likely  enough ; 
but  a  Herr  von  Zehren — shame  upon  you  !  " 

I  endeavored  with  all  my  might  to  shake  off  a  suspicion 
which  was  really  intolerable  ;  and  thus  afforded  another 
proof  that  we  all,  however  free  we  think  ourselves,  or  perhaps 
have  really  become,  still  ever  in  our  feelings,  if  not  in  our 
thoughts,  are  bound  by  other  imperceptible  but  none  the  less, 
firm  ties  to  the  impressions  of  our  childhood  and  early  youth. 
Had  my  father  been  a  king  and  I  the  crown-prince,  I  should 
probably  have  seen  the  Evil  One  embodied  in  the  person  of 
a  revolutionist ;  or  in  a  runaway  slave,  had  I  been  the  de- 
scendant of  a  planter  ;  so,  as  I  had  for  a  father  a  pedantically 
rigid  excise-officer,  to  my  conceptions  the  most  hideous  of 
all  stigmas  was  affixed  to  the  smuggler's  career.  Yet  at  the 
same  time — and  this  will  seem  surprising  to  no  one  who  re- 
members the  strange  duplicate  character  of  the  devil  in  the 
Christian  mythology — this  murky  gate  of  Tophet,  by  which 
my  childish  fancy  had  so  often  stolen  at  a  timid  distance, 
was  invested  with  a  diabolical  fascination.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise,  when  I  heard  tell  of  the  privations  which  the 
wretches  often  endured  with  such  fortitude,  of  the  ingenuity 
with  which  they  knew  how  to  baffle  the  utmost  vigilance  of 
the  officers,  of  the  fearlessness  with  which  they  not  seldom 
confronted  the  most  imminent  peril  ?  These  were  perilous 
stories  to  reach  the  ear  of  an  adventurous  boy  ;  but  far  too 
many  such  were  talked  over  in  our  town ;  and  what  was  the 
worst  of  all,  I  had  heard  the  most  terrible  and  most  fascinat- 
ing from  the  lips  of  my  own  father — naturally  with  an  ap- 
pendix of  indignant  reprobation  always  tacked  on  in  form 


% 


k 


11 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  59 

of  a  moral ;  but  this  antidote  was,  of  a  surety,  never  suffi- 
cient entirely  to  neutralize  the  poison.  Had  not  Arthur  and 
I,  shortly  before  an  examination  in  which  we  had  the  most 
confident  assurance  that  we  should  cut  but  a  poor  figure,  for 
a  whole  day  taken  earnest  counsel  together  over  the  question 
whether  we,  in  case  we  failed — or  better  yet,  before  standing 
the  trial — should  not  turn  smugglers  ourselves,  until  we  actu- 
ally were  scared  at  our  own  plans  ?  That  had  been  four  years 
ago  ;  but,  although  in  the  meantime  the  vehement  antipathies 
and  sympathies  of  youth  had  been  moderated  by  maturer 
reason,  still  the  thought  of  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a 
smuggler  had  even  now  the  effect  of  making  my  heart  beat 
violently. 

"  You  must  be  mad — stark  mad  !  Such  a'  man — it  is  not 
possible !  "  I  continually  repeated  to  myself,  as  I  hurried 
along  the  path  I  had  followed  that  morning — for  indeed  I 
then  knew  no  other — through  the  park  into  the  forest,  until 
I  again  reached  the  tarn  with  the  bank  of  moss. 

I  gazed  into  the  calm  black  water  ;  I  thought  of  the  un- 
happy lady  who  had  drowned  herself  there  because  she 
could  not  find  the  way  back  to  Spain,  and  how  strange  it 
was  that  her  daughter  should  select  precisely  this  spot  for 
her  favorite  resting-place.  Behind  the  bank  lay  her  other 
glove,  for  which  we  had  looked  in  vain  in  the  morning.  I 
kissed  it  repeatedly,  with  a  thrill  of  delight,  and  placed  it  in 
my  bosom.  Then  leaving  the  place  hastily  I  ascended  the 
cliff,  and  passing  the  ruined  tower,  went  out  to  the  furthest 
extremity  of  the  promontory,  which  was  also  its  highest 
point.  Approaching  the  verge,  I  looked  over.  A  strong 
breeze  had  sprung  up  ;  the  streaks  of  foam  lying  among  the 
great  rocks  and  countless  pebbles  of  the  beach  had  grown 
broader ;  and  here  and  there  upon  the  blue  expanse  flashed 
the  white  crest  of  a  breaker.  The  mainland  lay  towards 
the  south-west.  I  could  have  seen  the  steeples  of  my  native 
town  but  for  a  cliff  that  intervened,  rising  abruptly  from  the 
sea,  and  now  of  a  steel-blue  color  in  the  afternoon  light. 
"  And  this  is  all  that  remains !  "  I  said,  repeating  the  words 
of  Constance,  as  my  eye,  in  turning,  fell  upon  the  ruined 
tower. 

I  descended  and  threw  myself  down  upon  the  soft  moss 
that  grew   among  the   ruins.     No  place   could  have  been 


6o 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


found  more  fit  to  inspire  fantastic  reveries.  The  wide  ex- 
panse of  sky,  and  beyond  the  edge  of  the  upland  a  great 
stretch  of  sea,  and  the  nodding  broom  around  me  !  In  the 
sky  the  fleecy  clouds,  on  the  water  a  gleaming  sail,  and  in 
the  broom  the  whispering  wind !  How  luxurious  to  lie  idly 
here  and  dream — the  sweetest  dream  of  sweet  love  that  loves 
idleness  :  a  dream,  of  course,  full  of  combats  and  peril,  such 
as  naturally  fills  a  youthful  fancy.  Yes  !  I  would  be  her 
deliverer ;  would  bear  her  in  my  arms  from  this  desolate 
castle,  a  dismal  dungeon  for  one  so  young  and  so  fair — would 
rescue  her  from  this  terrible  father,  and  these  ruins  would  I 
erect  again  into  a  stately  palace  ;  and  when  the  work  was 
done  and  the  topmost  battlements  burned  in  the  evening- 
red,  would  lead  her  in,  and  kneeling  humbly  before  her,  say, 
"  This  is  thine !  Live  happy !  Me  thou  wilt  never  see 
more !  " 

Thus  I  wove  the  web  of  fancy,  while  the  sun  sank  towards 
the  horizon,  and  the  white  clouds  of  noon  began  to  flush 
with  crimson.  What  else  could  I  have  done  ?  A  young  fel- 
low who  has  just  run  away  from  school,  who  has  not  a  thaler 
in  his  pocket,  and  a  borrowed  hat  on,  and  who  scarcely 
knows  where  he  shall  lay  his  head — what  else  can  he  do  but 
build  castles  in  the  air  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


AS  I  entered  the  court  through  a  little  door  in  the  park- 
wall,  there  stood  a  light  wagon  from  which  the  horses 
were  being  unharnessed,  and  by  the  wagon  a  man 
in  hunting-dress,  his  gun  upon  his  shoulder — it  was  Herr  von 
Zehren. 

I  had  planned  to  assume  towards  my  host  a  sort  of  diplo- 
matic attitude  ;  but  I  never  was  a  good  actor,  and  had  had, 
besides,  so  little  time  to  get  up  the  part,  that  the  friendly 
smile  and  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand  with  which  Herr  von 
Zehren  received  me,  completely  threw  me  out,  and  I  met  his 
smile  and  returned  his  grasp  with  as  much  fervor  as  if  I  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  6t 

all  day  been  waiting  for  the  moment  when  I  should  see  my 
friend  and  protector  :  in  a  word,  I  was  entirely  in  the  power 
of  the  charm  with  which  this  singular  man  had,  from  the 
first  moment  of  our  meeting,  captivated  my  young  and  inex- 
perienced heart. 

But  in  truth  a  maturer  understanding  than  mine  might 
well  have  been  ensnared  by  the  charm  of  his  manner.  Even 
his  personal  appearance  had  for  me  something  fascinating  ; 
and  as  he  stood  there,  laughing  and  jesting  with  the  setting 
sun  lighting  up  a  face  which  seemed  really  to  have  grown 
young  again  from  the  excitement  of  his  day's  sport,  and  as 
he  took  off  his  cap  and  pushed  the  soft  fine  locks,  already 
touched  with  gray,  from  his  nobly-formed  brow,  and  stroked 
his  thick  brown  beard,  I  thought  I  had  never  seen  a  hand- 
somer man. 

"  I  came  to  your  bedside  this  morning,"  he  said,  in  a 
sportive  manner ;  "  but  you  slept  so  soundly  that  I  had  not 
the  heart  to  waken  you.  Though  if  I  had  known  that  you 
could  handle  a  gun  as  well  as  you  can  rudder  and  halyards 
— and  yet  I  might  have  known  it,  for  fishing  and  shoot- 
ing and — something  else  besides — go  together,  like  sitting  by 
the  stove  and  sleeping.  But  we  will  make  up  for  it :  we 
have,  thank  heaven,  more  than  one  day's  shooting  before  us. 
And  now  come  in  and  let  us  talk  while  supper  is  getting 
ready." 

The  room  which  Herr  von  Zehren  occupied  was  in  the 
front  part  of  the  building,  just  in  the  rear  of  the  dining-room, 
and  his  sleeping  apartment  immediately  adjoined  it.  He 
entered  the  latter,  and  conversed  with  me  through  the  open 
door,  keeping  all  the  while  such  a  clattering  with  jugs,  basins, 
and  other  apparatus  of  ablution,  that  I  had  some  difficulty 
in  understanding  what  he  was  saying.  I  made  out,  however, 
that  he  had  this  morning  written  to  his  brother,  the  steuer- 
rath,  requesting  him  to  apprise  my  father  where  I  was  now 
staying.  My  father  certainly  would  not  be  sorry  to  hear  that 
I  had  found  shelter  in  the  house  of  a  friend,  at  least  until 
some  arrangement  could  be  effected.  In  similar  circum- 
stances, he  said,  a  temporary  separation  often  prevented  a 
perpetual  one.  And  even  should  this  not  be  the  case  here, 
at  all  events — here  his  head  dipped  into  the  water,  and  I 
lost  the   remainder  of  the  sentence.     Under  any  circum- 


62  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

stances — he  was  saying  when  he  became  again  intelligible — 
it  would  be  as  well  if  I  mentioned  to  no  one  where  it  was 
that  we  had  happened  to  meet.  We  might  have  met  upon 
the  road,  as  I  was  about  to  be  ferried  over  to  the  island. 
What  was  to  prevent  a  young  man,  whose  father  had  just 
driven  him  from  his  house,  from  going,  if  he  pleased,  as  far 
as  the  blue  sky  spread  overhead  .-•  and  why  should  he  not 
meet  a  gentleman  who  has  a  vacant  place  in  his  carriage, 
and  asks  the  young  man  if  he  will  not  get  in  ?  This  was  all 
very  simple  and  natural.  And  in  fact  this  was  the  way  he 
had  stated  the  circumstances  in  his  letter  to  his  brother  this 
morning.  He  had  given  old  Pinnow  his  cue  yesterday  even- 
ing. And  besides,  the  question  of  where  and  how  was  really 
nobody's  affair.  He  added  some  further  remarks  with  his 
head  inside  his  wardrobe,  but  I  only  caught  the  word  "  in- 
conveniences." 

I  felt  relieved  from  a  load  of  anxiety.  My  frightful  dream 
of  the  morning,  of  which  I  had  not  thought  during  the  whole 
day,  had  recurred  to  my  memory  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening 
twilight.  For  a  moment  an  apprehension  seized  me  that  my 
father  might  think  I  had  made  away  with  myself ;  but  it  was 
but  for  a  moment,  for  youth  finds  it  so  unlikely  that  others 
will  take  things  more  seriously  than  it  does  itself  One 
point,  however,  was  clear  :  that  I  must  give  some  account 
of  myself  to  my  father.  But  at  this  thought  the  old  misery 
came  back  ;  I  could,  in  any  event,  no  longer  stay  here.  And 
now  I  suddenly  saw  a  way  of  escape  ftom  this  labyrinth. 
The  steuerrath,  being  his  immediate  chief,  was,  as  I  well 
knew,  looked  upon  by  my  loyal  and  zealous  father  as  a  kind 
of  superior  being  ;  indeed  he  knew  upon  earth  but  four  other 
beings  higher  than  himself ;  the  Provincial  Excise-Director, 
the  General  Excise-Director,  His  Excellency  the  Minister  of 
Commerce,  next  to  whom  came  His  Majesty  the  King 
— which  latter,  however,  was  a  being  of  distinct  and 
peculiar  kind,  and  separated,  even  from  an  excellency, 
by  a  vast  chasm.  If,  therefore,  Herr  von  Zehren  wished 
to  keep  me  with  him,  and  the  steuerrath  would  use 
his  influence  with  my  father — but  would  he  ?  The  steuerrath 
had  never  liked  me  much  ;  and  besides,  the  evening  before, 
I  had  deeply  offended  him.  I  expressed  my  doubts  on  this 
point  to  Herr  von  Zehren.     "  I  will  make  that  all  right,"  he 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  ^■^ 

said,  as,  rubbing  his  freshly  washed  hands,  he  came  out  of 
his  chamber. 

"  And  now  then,"  he  went  on,  stretching  himself  luxuri- 
ously in  an  easy-chair,  "  how  have  you  spent  the  day  ? 
Have  you  seen  my  daughter  ?  Yes  ?  Then  you  may  boast 
of  your  luck — many  a  time  I  do  not  see  her  for  days  to- 
gether. And  have  you  had  something  to  eat  ?  Poor  fare 
enough,  I  warrant ;  the  provision  is  but  indifferent  when  I 
am  at  home,  but  execrable  when  I  am  away.  Moonshine 
and  beefsteak  are  two  things  that  do  not  suit  together.  When 
I  want  good  fare,  I  must  go  from  home.  Yesterday  evening, 
for  example,  at  old  Pinnow's — wasn't  it  capital  ?  Romantic 
too,  eh }  Friar  Tuck  and  the  Black  Knight,  and  you  besides 
as  the  Disinherited  Knight.  I  love  such  little  adventures 
above  everything." 

And  he  stretched  himself  at  ease  in  his  great  chair,  and 
laughed  so  joyously  that  I  mentally  asked  his  pardon  for 
my  suspicions,  and  pronounced  myself  a  complete  fool  to 
have  had  such  an  idea  enter  my  brain. 

He  went  on  chatting :  asked  me  many  questions  about  my 
father,  my  family,  the  past  events  of  my  life,  all  in  a  tone  of 
such  friendly  interest  that  no  one  could  have  taken  it  amiss. 
He  seemed  to  be  much  pleased  with  my  answers  ;  nor  did  I 
take  offence  again  when,  as  he  had  done  the  evening  before, 
he  broke  into  loud  laughter  at  some  of  my  remarks.  But 
when  this  happened,  he  was  always  careful  to  soothe  my  sen- 
sitiveness with  a  kind  word  or  two.  I  felt  assured  that  he 
meant  well  towards  me  ;  and  to  this  day  I  have  remained  in 
the  conviction  that  from  the  first  moment  he  had  conceived 
a  hearty  liking  for  me,  and  that  if  it  was  a  mere  caprice  that 
drew  him  towards  a  young  man  who  needed  assistance,  it 
was  one  of  those  caprices  of  which  none  but  naturally  gen- 
erous hearts  are  capable. 

"  But  what  keeps  our  supper  so  long  ? "  he  cried,  spring- 
ing up  impatiently  and  looking  into  the  dining-room.  "  Ah ! 
there  you  are,  Constance  !  " 

He  went  in  ;  through  the  half-open  door  I  heard  him 
speaking  in  a  low  tone  with  his  daughter ;  my  heart  beat^  I 
could  not  tell  why. 

"  Well,  why  do  you  not  come  ? "  he  called  to  me  from  the 
dining-room.     I  went  in ;  by  the  table,  that  to  my  unaccus- 


€4  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

tomed  eye  seemed  richly  spread,  stood  Constance.  The 
light  of  the  hanging  lamp  fell  upon  her  from  above.  Whether 
it  was  the  different  light,  or  the  different  arrangement  of  her 
hair,  which  was  now  combed  upwards,  so  as  to  rest  upon  her 
head  like  a  dark  crown,  with  a  golden  ribbon  interwoven  in 
it,  or  her  different  attire — now  a  plain  blue  close-fitting 
dress,  cut  low  at  the  neck,  which  was  covered  by  a  wide  lace 
collar,  worn  somewhat  like  a  handkerchief — whether  it  was 
all  these  together,  and  in  addition  the  changed  expression 
of  her  face,  which  had  now  something  indescribably  childlike 
about  it,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I  scarcely  recognized  her  again ; 
I  could  have  believed  that  the  Constance  I  had  seen  in  the 
morning  was  the  older,  more  impassioned  sister  of  this  fair 
maidenly  creature. 

"  Last  half  of  the  previous  century,"  said  Herr  von  Zehren 
— "  Lotte,  eh  ?  You  only  want  a  sash,  and  perhaps  a  Wer- 
ther — otherwise  superb  !  " 

A  shadow  passed  over  the  face  of  Constance,  and  her 
brows  contracted.  I  had  not  entirely  understood  the  allu- 
sion, but  it  pained  me.  Constance  seemed  so  fair  to  me  ; 
how  could  any  one  who  saw  her  say  aught  else  but  that  she 
was  fair  t 

Gladly  would  I  have  said  it,  but  I  had  scarcely  the  cour- 
age to  look  at  her,  let  alone  speak  to  her ;  and  she,  for  her 
part,  was  silent  and  abstracted ;  the  dishes  she  hardly 
touched ;  and  indeed  now  I  cannot  remember  ever  to  have 
seen  her  eat.  In  truth,  the  meal,  composed  of  fish  and  pheas- 
ants which  Herr  von  Zehren  had  brought  in  from  his  day's 
shooting,  was  of  a  kind  only  suited  to  his  own  appetite,  which 
was  as  keen  as  a  sportsman's  usually  is.  During  supper  he 
drank  freely  of  the  excellent  red  wine,  and  often  challenged 
me  to  pledge  him  ;  and  indeed  he  directed  his  vivacious  and 
genial  conversation  almost  exclusively  to  me.  I  was  fairly 
dazzled  by  it ;  and  as  there  was  much  that  I  only  half  un- 
derstood, arid  much  that  I  did  not  understand  at  all,  it 
sometimes  happened  that  I  laughed  in  the  wrong  place, 
which  only  increased  his  mirth.  One  thing,  however,  I  saw 
clearly  ;  the  constrained,  not  to  say  hostile,  relations  between 
father  and  daughter.  Things  of  this  kind  are  easily  per- 
ceived, especially  when  the  observer  is  as  well  prepared  as 
was  I  to  catch  the  meaning  lurking  under  the  apparent  in- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  65 

difference  of  a  hasty  question,  and  to  mark  the  unnecessarily 
prolonged  pause  which  preceded  the  answer,  and  the  irritated 
tone  in  which  it  followed.  For  it  had  not  been  so  long  since 
my  father  and  I  had  sat  together  in  the  same  way ;  when  I 
used  to  thank  heaven  in  my  heart  if  any  lucky  chance  re- 
lieved us  sooner  than  usual  of  each  other's  presence.  Here 
I  should  have  been  a  disinterested  spectator  had  I  not  been 
so  inordinately  in  love  with  the  daughter,  and  had  not  the 
father,  by  his  brilliancy  and  amiability,  obtained  such  a  mas- 
tery over  me.  So  my  heart,  shared  between  them  both,  was 
torn  asunder  by  their  division  ;  and  if  a  few  hours  before  I 
had  formed  the  heroic  resolution  to  protect  the  lovely  and 
unhappy  daughter  from  her  terrible  father,  I  was  now  fixed 
like  a  rock  in  my  conviction  that  to  me  had  fallen  the  sub- 
lime mission  to  join  these  two  glorious  beings  again  in  an 
indissoluble  bond  of  love.  That  it  would  have  better  be- 
come me  to  go  back  to  the  door  of  a  certain  small  house 
in  Uselin,  where  dwelt  an  old  man  whom  I  had  so  deeply 
wounded — of  that  I  never  for  a  moment  thought. 

I  breathed  quick  with  expectation  as  a  carriage  came 
rattling  over  the  broken  pavement  of  the  court  and  stopped 
at  the  door.  It  was  a  visitor  whom  Herr  von  Zehren  had 
said  he  was  expecting ;  a  fellow-sportsman  and  the  owner 
of  an  adjoining  estate,  who  brought  with  him  a  friend  who 
was  staying  at  his  house,  and  who  had  been  out  with  them 
shooting.  Constance  had  at  once  arisen  from  the  table,  and 
was  about  to  leave  the  room,  in  spite  of  her  father's  request, 
uttered  in  a  tone  that  almost  made  it  a  command,  "  I  beg 
that  you  will  remain  !  "  when  the  gentlemen  entered.  One 
was  a  tall,  broad-shouldered,  fair  young  man,  with  handsome, 
regular  features,  and  a  pair  of  large,  prominent  blue  eyes 
that  stared  out  into  the  world  with  a  sort  of  good-natured 
astonishment.  My  host  introduced  him  to  me  as  Herr 
Hans  von  Trantow.  The  other,  a  short,  round  figure,  whose 
head,  with  its  sloping  brow,  and  almost  deficient  occiput, 
was  so  small  as  to  leave  scarce  a  hand's  breadth  of  room 
for  his  close-cropped,  stiff  brown  hair,  and  whose  short 
turned-up  nose,  and  immense  mouth,  always  open,  and  fur- 
nished with  large  white  teeth,  gave  their  possessor  a  more 
than  passing  resemblance  to  a  bull-dog — was  called  Herr 
Joachim  von  Granow.     He  had  been  an  officer  in  the  army , 


66  Hammer  and  Anvil.  '        ' 

and  on  his  succession,  a  few  months  before,  to  a  handsome 
fortune,  had  purchased  an  estate  in  the  neighborhood. 

Constance  had  found  herself  compelled  to  remain,  for  the 
little  Herr  von  Granow  had  at  once  turned  upon  her  with  an 
apparently  inexhaustible  flood  of  talk,  and  the  bulky  Herr 
von  Trantow  remained  standing  immovable  so  near  the 
open  door  that  it  was  not  easy  to  pass  him.  From  the  first 
moment  of  seeing  them  I  felt  a  strong  antipathy  to  them 
both  :  to  the  little  one  because  he  ventured  to  approach  so 
near  to  Constance,  and  to  talk  so  much ;  and  to  the  large 
one,  who  did  not  speak,  indeed,  but  stared  steadily  at  her 
with  his  glassy  eyes,  which  seemed  to  me  a  still  more  offen- 
sive proceeding. 

"  We  have  had  but  a  poor  day's  sport,"  said  the  little  one 
in  a  squeaking  voice  to  Constance  ;  "  but  day  before  yester- 
day, at  Count  Griebenow's,  we  had  an  uncommonly  splendid 
time.  Whenever  a  covey  rose  I  was  right  among  them ;  three 
times  I  brought  down  a  brace — right  and  left  barrels  ;  and 
that  I  call  shooting.  They  were  as  jealous  of  me — I  expected 
to  be  torn  to  pieces.  Even  the  prince  lost  his  temper. 
*  You  have  the  devil's  own  luck,  Granow,'  he  kept  saying. 
'Young  men  must  have  some  luck,'  I  answered.  'But  I  am 
younger  than  you,'  said  he.  '  Your  highness  does  not  need 
any  luck,'  said  I.  '  Why  not  ? '  '  To  be  a  Prince  of  Prora- 
Wiek  is  luck  enough  of  itself  Wasn't  that  a  capital  hit  ?" 
and  he  shook  with  laughter  at  his  own  wit,  and  shrugged  his 
round  shoulders  until  they  nearly  swallowed  his  little  head. 

"  The  prince  was  there,  then  1 "  Constance  said. 

It  was  the  first  word  she  had  uttered  in  reply  to  the  small 
man's  chatter.  Perhaps  this  was  the  reason  that  I,  who  had 
been  standing  by,  taking  no  interest  in  what  was  said — Herr 
von  Zehren  had  left  the  room,  and  Herr  von  Trantow  still 
held  his  post  at  the  door — suddenly  gave  all  my  attention  to 
the  conversation. 

"  Yes  indeed  ;  did  you  not  know  it  ?  "  said  the  little  man. 
■  "  To  be  sure,  your  father  does  not  come  to  the  shooting  at 
Griebenow's ;   but   I   supposed   Trantow   would   have   told 
you." 

"  Herr  von  Trantow  and  I  are  not  accustomed  to  keep 
each  other  au  courant  of  our  adventures,"  answered  Con- 
stance. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  67 

*'  Indeed !  "  said  Herr  von  Granow,  "  is  it  possible  ?  Yes ; 
as  I  was  going  on  to  say,  the  prince  was  there  :  he  is  going 
to  be  betrothed  to  the  young  Countess  Griebenow,  they  say. 
At  all  events,  he  has  fixed  his  quarters  at  Rossow ;  the  only 
one  of  his  estates  in  this  part  of  the  country,  you  know,  that 
has  anything  like  a  suitable  residence;^  and  then  besides  it 
lies  very  handy  to  Griebenow.  A  capital  opportunity — if  a 
prince  ever  needs  an  opportunity.  But  that  is  only  for  us 
poor  devils — ha !  ha  !  ha  !  " — and  the  little  fellow's  head 
again  nearly  disappeared  into  his  shoulders. 

I  was  standing  near  enough  to  hear  every  word  and  ob- 
serve every  look,  and  I  had  clearly  perceived  that  as  Herr 
von  Granow  mentioned  the  young  prince,  Constance,  who 
had  been  standing  half-turned  away  from  the  speaker,  with  an 
inattentive,  rather  annoyed  expression,  suddenly  turned  and 
fixed  her  eyes  upon  him,  while  a  deep  blush  suffused  her 
cheeks.  I  had  afterwards  sufficient  reason  to  remember 
this  fact,  but  at  the  moment  had  not  time  to  ponder  over  it, 
as  Herr  von  Zehren  now  returned  with  the  cigars  for  which 
he  had  gone ;  and  Constance,  after  offering  Herr  von  Granow 
the  tips  of  her  fingers,  giving  me  her  hand  with  great  appa- 
rent cordiality,  and  saluting  Herr  von  Trantow,  who  stood,  as 
ever,  silent  and  motionless  at  the  door,  with  a  distant, 
scarcely  perceptible  bow,  at  once  left  the  room. 

As  the  door  closed  behind  her,  Herr  von  Trantow  passed 
his  hand  over  his  brow,  and  then  turned  his  large  eyes  on 
me,  as  he  slowly  approached  me.  I  returned,  as  defiantly  as 
I  was  able,  his  look,  in  which  I  fancied  I  read  a  dark  men- 
ace, and  stood  prepared  for  whatever  might  happen,  when  he 
suddenly  stopped  before  me,  his  staring  eyes  still  fixed  upon 
my  face. 

"  This  is  my  young  friend  of  whom  I  was  speaking  to  you,- 
Hans,"  said  Herr  von  Zehren,  coming  up  to  us.  "  Do  you 
think  you  can  manage  him  ?  " 

Von  Trantow  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  You  see  I  have  laid  a  wager  with  Hans  that  you  are  the 
stronger  of  the  two,"  our  host  continued.  "  He  is  counted 
the  strongest  man  in  all  this  part  of  the  country  ;  so  I  held 
it  my  duty  to  bring  so  formidable  a  rival  to  his  notice." 

"  But  not  this  evening,"  said  BLans,  offering  me  his  hand. 
It  was  just  as  when  a  great  mastiff,  of  whom  we  are  not  sure 


68 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


whether  he  will  bite  or  not,  suddenly  sits  on  his  haunches 
before  us,  and  lays  his  great  paw  on  our  knees.  I  took  it 
without  an  instant's  hesitation. 

"  Heaven  forbid  !  "  said  Herr  von  Zehren  to  Trantow's  re- 
mark. "  My  young  friend  will  make  a  long  stay  with  me,  I 
trust.  He  wishes  to  learn  the  management  of  a  country 
place  ;  and  where  could  he  sooner  attain  his  object  than  upon 
such  a  model  estate  as  mine  ? " 

He  laughed  as  he  said  it.  Von  Granow  exclaimed,  "Very 
good !  "  the  silent  Hans,  said  nothing,  and  I  stood  confused. 
Von  Zehren,  in  our  previous  conversation,  had  made  no  al- 
lusion to  my  staying  with  him  as  a  pupil.  Why  had  he  not 
done  so  ?  It  was  one  of  the  happiest  of  ideas,  I  thought, 
and  one  that  at  once  cleared  away  all  the  difficulties  of  my 
position.  As  for  his  "  model  estate,"  why  might  I  not  suc- 
ceed in  changing  this  ironical  phrase  to  a  real  description  ? 
Yes ;  here  I  had  a  new  mission,  which  went  hand  in  hand 
with  the  other :  to  reconcile  father  and  daughter,  to  reclaim 
the  ruined  estate,  to  rebuild  the  castle  of  their  ancestors — 
in  a  word,  to  be  the  good  genius,  the  guardian  angel  of  the 
family. 

All  this  passed  through  my  mind  as  the  gentlemen  took 
their  seats  at  the  card-table  ;  and  with  my  brain  still  busy 
with  the  thought,  I  left  the  room,  under  the  pretext  of  want- 
ing a  little  fresh  air,  and  strolled  about  the  now  familiar  paths 
among  the  dark  shrubbery  of  the  park.  The  moon  was  not 
yet  up,  but  a  glimmer  on  the  eastern  horizon  showed  that 
she  was  rising.  The  stars  twinkled  through  the  warm  air 
that  was  ascending  from  the  earth.  There  was  a  rustling 
and  whispering  in  bush  and  copse,  and  a  screech-owl  at  in- 
tervals broke  the  silence  with  her  cry.  From  one  of  the 
windows  on  the  ground-floor  of  the  castle  came  a  faint  light, 
and  the  breeze  brought  to  my  ear  the  notes  of  a  guitar.  I 
could  not  withstand  the  temptation,  and  crept  with  hushed 
breath,  startled  at  the  least  noise  that  my  footsteps  made, 
nearer  and  nearer,  until  I  reached  the  stone  balustrade  which 
surrounded  the  wide,  low  terrace.  I  now  perceived  that  the 
light  came  from  an  open  casement,  through  which  I  could 
see  into  a  dimly-lighted  room.  Thick  curtains  were  dropped 
before  the  two  windows  to  the  right  and  left.  From  the 
place  where  I  stood  I  could  not  see  the  occupant,  and  I  was 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  69 

hesitating,  with  a  beating  heart,  whether  I  should  venture  to 
advance,  when  she  suddenly  appeared  at  the  open  casement. 
Not  to  be  discovered,  I  crouched  close  behind  a  great  stone 
vase. 

Her  fingers  glided  over  the  strings  of  her  guitar,  trp.n% 
first  one  note  and  then  another,  then  striking  an  uncertain 
chord  or  two,  as  if  she  were  trying  to  catch  a  melody.  Pres- 
ently the  chords  were  struck  more  firmly,  and  she  sang : 

/   "  All  day  long  the  bright  sun  loves  me,  \  \ 

Woos  me  with  his  glowing  light ; 
,        But  I  better  love  the  gentle 
;       ■  Stars  of  night. 

From  the  boundless  deep  above  me 

Come  their  calm  and  tender  beams, 
Bringing  to  my  wayward  fancy 
Sweetest  dreams. 

Sweetest  dreams  of  love  unending, 

Bitter  tears  for  love  undone ; 
For  the  dearest,  for  the  fairest, 
Only  one. 

Falsest-hearted,  only  chosen — 
'I  Soon  the  short-lived  dream  was  o'er — 

He  is  gone,  and  1  am  lonely 
Evermore." 

The  last  words  were  sung  in  a  broken  voice,  and  she  now 
leaned  her  head  against  the  casement-frame,  and  I  heard  her 
sobbing.  My  agitation  was  so  great  that  I  forgot  the  pre- 
caution which  my  situation  demanded,  and  a  stone  which 
I  had  dislodged  from  the  crumbling  edge  of  the  terrace 
rolled  down  the  slope.  Constance  started,  and  called  with 
an  unsteady  voice,  "  Who  is  there  ? "  I  judged  it  more 
prudent  to  discover  myself,  and  approached  her,  saying  that 
it  was  I. 

"  Ah,  it  is  you,  then,"  she  said. 

"  I  entreat  you  to  forgive  me.  The  music  of  your  guitar 
attracted  me.  •  I  know  I  ought  not  to  have  come  :  pray  for- 
give me." 

I  stood  near  her ;  the  light  from  the  room  fell  brightly 
upon  her  face  and  her  eyes,  which  were  lifted  to  mine. 

"  How  kind  you  are,"  she  said  in  a  soft  voice ;  "  or  are 
you  not  dealing  truly  with  me  ?  " 


70 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


I  could  not  trust  myself  to  answer,  but  she  knew  how  to 
interpret  my  silence  aright. 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "you  are  my  trusty  squire,  my  faithful 
George,  If  I  were  to  say  to  you  :  watch  this  terrace  to- 
night until  the  break  of  day,  you  would  do  it,  would  you 
not  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  answered. 

She  looked  in  my  face  and  smiled.  "  How  sweet  it  is — 
how  sweet  to  know  that  there  is  one  creature  upon  earth 
that  is  true  to  us  !  " 

She  gave  me  her  hand ;  my  own  trembled  as  I  took  it. 

"  But  I  do  not  ask  anything  of  the  kind,"  she  said  ; 
"  only  this  one  thing,  that  you  will  not  go  away  except  by 
your  own  determination,  and  not  without  my  permission. 
You  promise  ?  That  is  so  kind  of  you  !  And  now  go  ; 
good-night !  " 

She  lightly  pressed  my  hand  before  letting  it  go,  and  then 
re-entered  her  room.  As  I  turned  away  I  heard  the  case- 
ment close. 

I  stood  under  one  of  the  great  trees  of  the  park  and 
looked  back  towards  the  house.  The  moon  had  risen  above 
the  trees,  and  the  great  mass  of  buildings  stood  out  in  bolder 
relief  against  the  dark  background  ;  a  faint  light  occasion- 
ally appeared  and  vanished  in  one  of  the  windows  of  the 
upper  story.  The  light  from  Constance's  window  came  to- 
wards me  with  that  magic  lustre  which  shines  upon  us  once  in 
our  lives,  and  only  once. 

The  lawn  before  me  lay  in  deep  shadow  ;  but  just  as  the  ' 
first  rays  of  the  moon  began  to  illuminate  it,  I  thought  I 
perceived  a  figure,  which,  coming  from  the  other  side,  was 
slowly  approaching  Constance's  window.  In  this  there  was 
nothing  to  excite  suspicion,  for  it  might  be  one  of  the  labor- 
ers ;  but  it  is  the  duty  of  a  faithful  squire  to  make  sure  in 
any  case ;  so  without  a  moment's  hesitation  I  started  across 
the  lawn  to  meet  the  figure.  Unluckily  I  stepped  upon  a  dry 
twig  and  it  snapped.  The  figure  stopped  instantly,  and 
began  to  retreat  with  swift,  stealthy  steps.  He  had  but  little 
start  of  me,  but  the  thick  coppice  which  closed  in  the  lawn 
on  that  side,  and  was  the  limit  of  the  park,  was  so  near  that 
he  reached  it  a  few  moments  before  me.  I  distinctly  heard 
some  one  pushing  through  the  branches,  but  with  my  utmost 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


71 


exertions  I  could  not  reach  him.  I  began  to  think  that  my 
ear  had  led  me  in  a  wrong  direction,  when  suddenly  a  loud 
crashing  and  clattering  close  at  hand  proved  that  I  was  on 
the  right  track.  The  man  was  evidently  clambering  over 
the  rotten  paling  which  fenced  in  the  park  on  this  side. 
Now  I  knew  he  could  not  escape  me.  On  the  other  side  lay 
a  wide  open  space,  and  I  had  never  yet  met  the  man  whom 
I  could  not  overtake  in  a  fair  race.  But  at  the  instant  that 
I  reached  the  paling,  I  heard  a  horse's  feet,  and  looking  up 
saw  a  rider  galloping  across  the  open  in  the  clear  moonlight. 
The  horse  was  evidently  one  of  great  power  and  speed.  At 
each  stride  he  cleared  such  a  stretch  of  ground,  that  in  less 
than  half  a  minute  horse  and  rider  were  lost  to  sight ;  for  a 
brief  space  I  still  heard  the  sound  of  the  hoofs,  and  then 
that  also  ceased.  The  whole  adventure  passed ,  in  so  little 
time,  that  I  might  have  fancied  I  had  dreamed  it  all,  but  for 
the  evidence  of  my  heart  beating  violently  with  excitement 
and  the  exertion  of  the  chase,  and  the  smarting  of  my  hands, 
which  Were  torn  by  the  thorns  and  briers. 

Who  could  the  audacious  intruder  be  ?  Certainly  not  an 
ordinary  thief ;  doubtless  some  one  who  had  been  attracted 
by  the  light  from  Constance's  window,  and  not  to-night  for 
the  first  time  ;  it  was  plain  that  he  had  often  followed  that 
path  in  the  dark. 

That  it  was  a  favored  lover,  I  did  not  for  a  moment  sup- 
pose. Such  a  surmise  would  have  seemed  to  me  an  outrage, 
and  upon  one,  too,  whose  dreamy  eyes,  whose  melancholy 
song,  and  whose  tears  rather  told  of  an  unhappy  than  of  a 
requited  attachment.  But  they  surely  told  of  love.  Not 
that  I  was  presumptuous  enough  to  indulge  in  any  hope,  or 
even  wish  ;  how  could  I  dare  to  lift  my  eyes  to  her  .''  I  could 
only  live  and  die  for  her,  and  perhaps  another  time  break 
the  neck  of  the  rash  mortal  who  had  dared  under  cover  of 
the  night  to  approach  her  sanctuary. 

This  idea  somewhat  solaced  my  dejection,  but  my  former 
happiness  had  departed  never  to  return.  It  was  with  a 
heavy  sense  of  anxiety  and  apprehension  that  I  re-entered 
the  room  where  the  gentlemen  were  still  at  the  card-table. 

They  had  commenced  with  whist,  but  were  now  engaged 
at  faro.  Von  Zehren  held  the  bank,  and  seemed  to  have 
been  winning  largely.     In  a  plate  before  him  lay  a  great 


72  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

heap  of  silver,  with  some  gold,  and  this  plate  lay  on  another 
which  was  filled  with  crumpled  treasury  notes.  The  two 
guests  had  already  lost  their  ready  money,  and  from  time  to 
time  they  handed  over  bills,  which  went  to  swell  the  pile  of 
notes,  and  received  in  exchange  larger  or  smaller  sums, 
which  evinced  a  strong  proclivity  to  return  to  the  source  from 
which  they  sprang.  Herr  von  Trantow  appeared  to  bear  his 
ill-luck  with  great  equanimity.  His  good-natured  handsome 
face  was  as  passionless  as  before,  only  perhaps  a  shade  or 
two  deeper  in  color,  and  his  great  blue  eyes  rather  more 
staring.  But  this  might  very  well  be  the  effect  of  the  wine 
he  had  been  drinking,  of  which  they  had  already  emptied  at 
least  half-a-dozen  bottles.  Herr  von  Granow's  nerves  were 
less  fitted  to  bear  the  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  for- 
tune. He  would  at  times  start  up  from  his  chair,  then  fall 
back  into  it  ;  swore  sometimes  aloud,  sometimes  softly  to 
himself,  and  was  plainly  in  the  very  worst  of  humors,  to  the 
secret  delight,  as  I  thought,  of  Herr  von  Zehren,  whose 
brown  eyes  twinkled  with  amusement  as  he  politely  expressed 
his  regret  whenever  he  was  compelled  to  gather  in  the  little 
man's  money. 

I  had  taken  my  seat  near  the  players,  in  order  better  to 
watch  the  chances  of  the  game,  of  which  I  had  sufficient 
knowledge  from  furtive  school-boy  experiences,  when  Herr 
von  Zehren  pushed  over  to  me  a  pile  of  bank-notes  which  he 
had  just  won,  saying,  "  You  must  join  us."  ;]• 

"  Excuse  me,"  I  stammered. 

"  Why  so  punctilious  about  a  trifle  ?  "  he  asked.  "  There 
is  no  need  for  you  to  go  to  your  room  for  money  ;  here  is 
enough." 

He  knew  that  my  whole  stock  of  cash  did  not  amount  to 
quite  a  thaler,  for  I  had  told  him  so  the  previous  evening. 
I  blushed  crimson,  but  had  not  the  courage  to  contradict  my 
kind  host's  generous  falsehood.  I  drew  up  my  chair  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  has  no  wish  to  spoil  sport,  and  began 
to  play. 

Cautiously  at  first,  with  small  stakes,  and  with  the  firm 
determination  to  remain  perfectly  cool ;  but  before  long  the 
fever  of  gaming  began  to  fire  my  brain.  My  heart  beat 
ever  quicker  and  quicker,  my  head  and  my  eyes  seemed 
burning.    While  the  cards  were  dealing  I  poured  down  glass 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  73 

after  glass  of  wine  to  moisten  my  parched  throat,  and  it  was 
with  a  shaking  hand  that  I  gathered  up  my  winnings.  And 
I  won  almost  incessantly  ;  if  a  card  was  turned  against  me, 
the  next  few  turns  brought  me  in  a  three-fold  or  a  five-fold 
gain.  My  agitation  almost  suffocated  me  as  the  money 
before  me  increased  to  a  larger  sum  than  I  had  ever  before 
seen  in  a  heap — two  or  three  hundred  thalers,  as  I  estimated 
it  in  my  mind. 

Presently  my  luck  came  to  a  pause.  I  ceased  winning, 
but  did  not  lose  ;  and  then  I  began  to  lose  slowly  at  first, 
then  faster  and  faster.  Cold  chills  ran  over  me,  as  one 
after  another  of  the  large  notes  passed  into  the  banker's 
hands  ;  but  I  took  care  not  to  imitate  the  behavior  of  Herr 
von  Granow,  which  had  struck  me  so  repulsively.  Like 
Herr  von  Trantow,  I  lost  without  the  slightest  change  of 
countenance,  and  my  calmness  was  praised  by  my  host, 
who  continued  encouraging  me.  My  stock  of  money  had 
melted  away  to  one-half,  when  Hans  von  Trantow  declared 
with  a  yawn  that  he  was  too  tired  to  play  any  longer.  Von 
Granow  said  it  was  not  late  ;  but  the  candles  burnt  to  the 
sockets,  and  the  great  clock  on  the  wall,  which  pointed  to 
three,  told  a  different  story.  The  two  guests  lighted  fresh 
cigars,  and  drove  off  in  their  carriages,  which  had  long  been 
waiting  at  the  door,  after  having  arranged  a  shooting  expe- 
dition, in  which  I  was  to  join,  for  the  following  day. 

My  host  and  I  returned  to  the  room,  which  reeked  with 
the  fumes  of  wine  and  the  smoke  of  cigars,  where  old  Chris- 
tian, for  whom  the  difference  between  night  and  day  seemed 
to  have  no  existence,  was  busy  clearing  up.  Von  Zehren 
threw  open  the  window  and  looked  out.  I  joined  him  ;  he 
laid  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  said :  "  How  glori- 
ously the  stars  are  shining,  and  how  delicious  the  air  is  1 
And  there  " — he  pointed  back  into  the  room,  "  how  hor- 
rible— disgusting — stifling  !  Why  cannot  one  play  faro  by 
starlight,  inhaling  the  perfume  of  wall-flowers  and  migno- 
nette ?  And  why,  after  every  merry  night,  must  repentance 
come  in  the  form  of  an  old  man  shaking  his  head  as  he 
counts  the  emptied  bottles  and  sweeps  up  the  ashes  ?  How 
stupid  it  is  ;  but  we  must  not  give  ourselves  gray  hairs  fret- 
ting about  it — they  will  come  soon  enough  of  themselves. 
And  now  do  you  go  to  bed.     I  see  you  have  a  hundred 

4  .  ■ 


74  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

things  on  your  mina,  but  to-morrow  is  a  new  clay,  and  if  not 
— so  much  the  better.     Good-night,  and  pleasant  rest." 

But  it  was  long  ere  my  host's  kind  wish  was  accomplished. 
A  real  witch-sabbath  of  beautiful  and  hideous  figures  danced 
in  the  wildest  gyrations  before  my  feverish,  half-sleeping, 
half-waking  eyes:  Constance,  her  father,  his  guests,  the 
dark  form  in  the  park,  my  father.  Professor  Lederer,  and 
Smith  Pinnow — and  all  appealing  to  me  to  save  them  from 
some  danger  or  other ; — Professor  Lederer  especially  from 
two  thick  lexicons,  which  were  really  two  great  oysters  that 
gaped  with  open  shells  at  the  lean  professor,  while  the  com- 
merzienrath  stood  in  the  background,  nearly  dying  with 
laughter : — and  all  whirling  and  swarming  together,  and 
caressing  and  threatening,  and  charming  and  terrifying  me, 
until  at  last,  as  the  gray  dawn  began  to  light  the  ragged 
hangings  of  the  chamber,  a  profound  slumber  dispersed  the 
phantoms. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

IF,  according  to  the  unanimous  report  of  travellers  by  that 
route,  the  road  to  hell  is  paved  with  good  intentions,  I 
am  convinced  that  several  square  rods  of  it  are  my 
work,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  it  was  laid  down  in  the 
first  fortnight  of  my  stay  at  Zehrendorf,  There  could,  in- 
deed, scarcely  have  been  a  place  where  everything  essential 
to  this  easy  and  pleasant  occupation  was  provided  in  ampler 
abundance.  Wherever  one  went,  or  stood,  or  turned  the 
eyes,  there  lay  the  materials  ready  to  hand  ;  and  I  was  too 
young,  too  inexperienced,  and  I  will  venture  to  add,  too 
good-hearted,  not  to  fall  to  work  with  all  my  energy.  Of 
what  unspeakable  folly  I  was  guilty  in  undertaking  to  set 
right  the  disordered  and  disjointed  world  in  which  I  was 
now  moving,  after  I  had  already  shown  that  I  could  not  ad- 
just myself  to  the  correct  and  orderly  world  from  which  I 
came — this  thought  did  not  seize  me  till  long  afterwards. 

No  ;  I  was  thoroughly  convinced  of  my  sublime  mission  ; 
and  I  thanked  my  propitious  star  that  had  so   gloriously 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


75 


brought  me  from  the  harsh  slavery  of  the  school  and  of  my 
father's  house,  where  I  was  pining  away ;  from  the  oppres- 
sive bonds  of  Philistine  associations  which  hampered  the  free 
flight  of  my  heroic  soul,  into  this  freedom  of  the  desert  which 
seemed  to  have  no  bounds,  and  behind  which  must  lie  a 
Canaan  which  I  was  gallantly  resolved  to  conquer — a  land 
flowing  with  the  milk  of  friendship  and  with  the  honey  of 
love. 

True,  the  letter  which  soon  arrived,  with  a  great  box  con- 
taining my  personal  chattels,  from  my  father  to  Herr  von 
Zehren,  for  a  while  gave  me  pause.  The  letter  comprised 
but  very  few  lines,  to  the  effect  that  he — my  father — ^was 
fully  convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  ever  leading  me  by 
his  road  to  any  good  end,  and  that  he  was  compelled  to  give 
me  over,  for  weal  or  woe,  to  my  own  devices  ;  only  hoping 
that  my  disobedience  and  my  obstinacy  might  not  be  visited 
upon  me  too  heavily.  Herr  von  Zehren  showed  me  the 
letter,  and  as  he  observed  my  grave  look  upon  reading  it, 
asked  me,  "  Do  you  wish  to  go  back  ? "  adding  immediately, 
"  Do  not  do  it.  That  is  no  place  for  you.  The  old  gentle- 
man wanted  to  make  a  draught-horse  out  of  you,  but,  tall 
and  strong  as  you  are,  that  is  not  your  vocation.  You  are  a 
hunter,  for  whom  no  ditch  is  too  wide,  and  no  hedge  too 
high.  Come  along  !  I  saw  a  covey  of  some  two  dozen  over 
in  the  croft ;  we  will  have  them  before  dinner." 

He  was  right,  I  thought.  I  felt  that  my  father  had  given 
me  up  too  soon,  that  he  might  have  allowed  me  one  chance 
more,  and  that,  as  it  was,  he  had  forfeited  the  right  to 
threaten  me  in  addition  with  the  retribution  of  heaven. 
And  yet  it  pained  me,  when  an  hour  or  so  later  Herr  von 
Zehren,  who  had  used  up  all  his  wads,  took  my  father's  let- 
ter from  his  pocket,  and  tearing  it  up,  rammed  it  down  both 
barrels  of  his  gun,  with  the  jesting  phrase  that  necessity 
knows  no  law.  I  could  not  help  feeling  as  if  some  misfor- 
tune would  happen.  But  the  gun  did  not  burst,  the  birds 
dropped,  and  nothing  remained  of  the  letter  but  a  smoulder- 
ing scrap  which  fell  in  some  dry  stubble,  and  upon  which 
Herr  von  Zehren  set  his  foot  as  he  thrust  the  birds  into  his 
game-bag. 

If  I  had  any  doubt  left  whether  I  was  right  in  setting  my- 
self upon  my  own  feet,  as  I  phrased  it,  a  letter  which  I  re- 


76 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


ceived  from  Arthur  was  only  too  well  adapted  to  confirm  me 
in  my  notions  of  my  finally-won  liberty. 

"  A  lucky  dog  you  always  were,"  he  wrote.  "  You  run  away 
from  school,  and  they  let  you  go,  as  if  it  was  a  matter  of  course ; 
while  me  they  catch  as  if  I  were  a  runaway  slave,  cram  me 
in  the  dungeon  for  three  days,  every  hour  cast  up  to  me  my 
disgraceful  conduct,  and  in  every  way  make  my  life  a  per- 
fect misery  to  me.  Even  my  father  carries  on  as  if  I  was 
guilty  of  heaven  knows  what ;  only  mamma  is  sensible,  and 
says  I  mustn't  take  it  too  much  to  heart,  and  that  papa  will 
have  to  come  round,  or  the  professor  will  not  let  me  go  into 
the  upper  class,  and  there  will  be  more  botherations.  It  is 
really  a  shame  that  I,  just  because  my  uncle,  the  commer- 
zienrath,  wills  it  so,  must  go  through  the  final  examination, 
while  Albert  von  Zitzewitz,  no  older  than  I,  is  at  the  cadets' 
school,  and  has  a  pair  of  colors  already.  What  has  my 
uncle  to  do  with  me,  anyhow  ?  Papa  says  that  he  will  not 
be  able  to  support  me  during  my  lieutenancy  without  the 
help  he  expects  from  my  uncle ;  and  that  is  likely  too,  for 
things  get  tighter  with  us  every  day,  and  papa  went  quite 
wild  yesterday  when  he  had  to  pay  sixteen  thalers  for  a  glove- 
bill  of  mine.  If  mamma  did  not  help  me  now  and  then,  I 
don't  know  what  I  should  do  ;  but  she  has  nothing,  and  said 
to  me  only  yesterday  that  she  did  not  know  what  would  hap- 
pen at  New  Year,  when  all  the  bills  came  in. 

"  Now  you  might  help  me  out  of  all  this  trouble.  Papa 
says  that  Uncle  Make  never  looks  at  money  when  he  hap- 
pens to  have  any,  and  anybody  that  would  hit  the  lucky  mo- 
ment might  get  as  much  from  him  as  they  pleased.  You, 
lucky  fellow,  are  now  with  him  all  the  time,  and  you  might 
watch  your  chance,  for  the  sake  of  an  old  friend,  and  slip  in 
a  good  word  for  me.  Or  better,  tell  him  that  you  have  some 
old  debts  that  you  are  worried  about,  and  wouldn't  he  lend 
you  fifty  or  a  hundred  thalers.,  and  then  do  you  send  it  to  me, 
for  you  can't  want  it,  you  know.  You'll  never  come  back 
here,  whatever  happens,  for  you  cannot  imagine  the  way  peo- 
ple here  talk  about  you.  Lederer  prays  an  extra  five  min- 
utes every  day  for  the  strayed  lamb — that's  what  he  calls  you, 
you  old  sinner.  Justizrath  Heckepfennig  said  that  if  ever  it 
was  written  in  a  mortal's  face  that  he  would  die  in  his  shoes, 
it  is  in  yours.    In  Emilie's  coterie  it  was  resolved  to  tear  out 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  77 

of  all  their  albums  the  leaves  on  which  you  had  immortal- 
ized yourself ;  and  at  my  uncle's,  day  before  yesterday,  there 
was  a  regular  scene  about  you.  Uncle  said  at  the  table  that 
you  must  take  powerfully  long  strides  if  you  meant  to  out- 
run the and  here  he  made  a  sign,  you  understand,  at 

which  Hermine  began  to  cry  terribly,  and  Fraulein  Duff  said 
it  was  a  shame  to  talk  that  way  before  a  child.  So  you  see 
you  have  a  pair  of  firm  friends  among  the  females.  You  al- 
ways did  have,  and  have  still,  the  most  unaccountable  luck 
in  that  quarter.  Don't  break  my  pretty  cousin's  heart,  you 
lucky  dog ! 

"  P.  S. — Papa  once  told  me  that  Constance  gets  a  small 
sum  of  money  every  year  from  an  old  Spanish  aunt  of  hers. 
She  certainly  has  no  use  for  it.  Maybe  you  could  coax 
something  from  her — at  all  events,  you  might  look  into  the 
matter  a  little." 

As  soon  as  I  had  read  this  letter,  which  offered  me  such 
an  opportunity  of  heaping  coals  of  fire  on  the  head  of  my 
still-loved  friend,  I  resolved  to  help  him  out  of  his  difficul- 
ties with  a  part  of  the  money  I  had  won  on  that  first  eve- 
ning ;  but  this  intention,  which  I  cannot  maintain  to  have 
been  in  any  sense  a  good  one,  was  destined  never  to  be  car- 
ried into  execution.  For  the  same  evening  Herr  von  Zehren 
gave  his  guests  their  revenge  at  Hans  von  Trantow's,  and  I 
lost  not  only  all  the  money  I  had  won  with  such  palpitations, 
to  the  very  last  thaler,  but  a  considerable  sum  besides,  which 
my  obliging  host,  who  was  again  the  winner,  had  forced 
upon  me.  This  ill  fortune,  which  I  might  have  foreseen  if 
I  had  had  a  grain  more  sense,  struck  me  as  a  heavy  blow. 
In  spite  of  my  frivolity,  I  had  always  been  scrupulously 
conscientious  in  my  small  money-matters  ;  had  always  paid 
my  insignificant  debts  cheerfully  and  as  promptly  as  possi- 
ble ;  and  as  we  were  driving  home  at  daybreak  after  this  un- 
lucky evening,  I  felt  more  wretched  than  I  had  ever  done 
before.  How  could  I  ever  be  in  a  position  to  pay  such  a 
sum — especially  now  that  I  had  resolved  never  again  to 
touch  a  card  ?  How  could  I  venture  in  broad  daylight  to 
look  into  the  face  of  the  man  to  whom  I  was  already  under 
so  many  obligations  "i 

Herr  von  Zehren,  who  was  in  the  best  of  humors,  laughed 
aloud  when,  after  some  urging  on  his  part,  I  confessed  to 


78  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

him  my  trouble.  "  My  dear  George,"  said  he — he  had  taken 
to  calling  me  George  altogether — "  don't  take  it  amiss,  but  you 
really  are  too  absurd.  Why,  man,  do  you  really  think  that 
I  would  for  one  instant  hold  you  responsible  for  what  you 
did  at  my  express  request  ?  Whoever  lends  money  to  min- 
ors, does  it,  as  everybody  knows,  at  his  own  risk,  and  you 
certainly  remember  that  I  forced  the  money  upon  you.  And 
why  did  I  do  it  ?  Simply  because  it  gave  me  pleasure,  and 
because  I  liked  to  see  your  honest,  glowing  face  across  the 
table,  and  to  compare  it  with  Granow's  hang-dog  look  and 
Trantow's  stony  stare.  And  when  a  young  fellow  that  is  my 
valued  guest,  to  please  me,  accompanies  me  out  shooting,  or 
to  the  faro-table,  and  he  has  no  money  and  no  gun,  it  is 
right  and  fair  and  a  matter  of  course  that  I  should  place  mj' 
gun-room  and  purse  at  his  disposal.  And  now  say  no  more 
about  the  trifle,  and  give  me  a  cigar  if  we  have  any  left." 

I  gave  him  his  cigar-case,  which  he  had  handed  over  to 
my  keeping,  and  murmured  that  his  kindness  crushed  me  to 
the  earth,  and  that  my  only  consolation  was  in  the  trust  that 
an  opportunity  might  yet  offer  of  my  repaying  the  obligation 
in  some  way  or  other.  He  laughed  again  at  this,  and  said 
I  was  as  proud  as  Lucifer,  but  he  liked  me  all  the  better  for 
it ;  and  as  for  the  possibility  of  my  repaying  the  obligation, 
as  I  called  it,  he  was  a  man  in  whose  life  accidents  and  lucky 
hits  and  mishaps  and  chances  of  all  kinds  had  played  so  im- 
portant a  part,  that  it  would  be  a  wonder  if,  among  all  the 
rest,  the  chance  I  so  longed  for  did  not  turn  up.  So  until 
then  we  would  let  the  matter  rest. 

In  this  airy  way  he  tried  to  quiet  the  twinges  of  my  con- 
science, but  he  only  succeeded  in  part ;  and  I  went  to  sleep, 
and  awaked  a  couple  of  hours  later,  with  the  resolution  to 
set  decisively  about  the  execution  of  another  resolution, 
namely,  in  my  capacity  of  pupil  to  devote  myself  to  the  neg- 
lected estate ;  to  acquire,  with  the  utmost  possible  dispatch, 
a  complete  insight  into  all  matters  of  rural  economy,  and  by 
the  help  of  this  knowledge  and  of  untiring  diligence,  and 
the  exertion  of  all  my  faculties,  to  change  this  ruined  place 
in  the  shortest  possible  time — say  one  or  two  years — into  a 
paradise,  and  so  relieve  my  kind  host  from  the  necessity  of 
winning  at  the  card-table  the  resources  which  he  could  not 
win  from  his  fields. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  '  79 

I  at  once  devoted  my  attention  to  the  forlorn-looking  sta- 
bles, to  the  cattle-sheds,  only  tenanted  by  a  few  wretched 
specimens  of  the  bovine  genus,  and  to  a  score  of  melancholy 
sheep  ;  so  that  Herr  von  Zehren,  who  had  an  acute  sense  of 
the  comic,  could  never  get  done  laughing  at  me,  until  an  in- 
cident occurred  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  speaking 
a  serious  word  with  me,  which  to  a  certain  extent  damped 
the  ardor  of  my  economical  studies. 

That  old  man  whom  I  met  in  the  park  on  the  first  day 
after  my  arrival  (whose  real  name  was  Christian  Halter- 
man,  though  he  always  went  by  the  name  of  Old  Christian), 
in  his  capacity  of  under-bailiff,  and  in  default  of  a  master 
who  paid  any  attention  to  the  management,  and  of  a  head- 
bailiff,  a  post  that  was  not  filled — was  the  wretched  chief  of 
the  whole  wretched  establishment.  Such  orders  as  were 
given  emanated  from  him  ;  though  it  required  no  extraordi- 
nary perspicuity  of  vision  to  see  that  of  the  whole  bandit- 
looking  gang  that  called  themselves  laborers,  every  man  did 
just  what  pleased  him.  When  the  old  man,  as  I  had  once 
or  twice  seen,  fell  into  an  impotent  rage,  and  more  to  relieve 
his  wrath  than  in  the  hope  of  any  effectual  result,  scolded 
and  stormed  in  his  singular,  creaking,  parrot-like  voice,  they 
laughed  in  his  wrinkled  face  and  kept  on  their  own  way,  or 
sometimes  even  openly  insulted  him.  Their  ringleader  in 
this  insolence  was  a  certain  John  Swart,  commonly  called 
"  Long  Jock,"  a  great,  tall,  broad-shouldered  fellow,  with  long 
arms  like  an  ape's,  whose  physiognomy  would  probably  have 
appeared  to  Justizrath  Heckepfennig  more  unprepossessing 
even  than  mine,  and  of  whose  matchless  strength  the  others 
told  all  sorts  of  wonderful  stories. 

I  came  one  morning  upon  this  man,  quarrelling  again  with 
Old  Christian.  The  subject  of  dispute  was  a  load  of  com 
which  the  old  man  wanted  thrown  off,  and  which  the  other 
refused  to  touch.  The  scene  was  the  straw-littered  space 
before  the  barn-door,  and  the  spectators  a  half-dozen  fellows 
who  openly  sided  with  Long  Jock,  and  applauded  every 
coarse  jeer  of  his  with  whinnying  laughter. 

I  had  observed  the  whole  affair  from  a  distance,  and  my 
blood  Was  already  boiling  with  indignation  when  I  reached 
the  spot.  Thrusting  a  couple  of  the  laughers  roughly  aside, 
I  confronted  Long  Jock  and  asked  him  if  he  intended  to 


8o  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

obey  Old  Christian's  order  or  not.  Jock  answered  me  with 
an  insolent  laugh  and  a  coarse  word.  In  a  moment  we  were 
both  rolling  in  the  trampled  straw,  and  in  the  next  I  was 
kneeling  upon  the  breast  of  my  vanquished  antagonist,  and 
made  the  unpleasantness  of  his  position  so  apparent,  that  he 
first  cried  aloud  for  help,  and  then,  seeing  that  the  rest 
stood  scared  and  motionless,  and  that  none  could  deliver 
him  out  of  my  hand,  begged  for  mercy  like  a  craven. 

I  had  just  allowed  him  to  rise,  badly  bruised  and  half 
strangled,  when  Herr  von  Zehren,  who  from  his  chamber- 
window  had  been  a  witness  of  the  whole  scene,  came  hurry- 
ing up.  He  told  Long  Jock  that  he  had  got  no  more  than 
he  richly  deserved,  and  that  he  would  do  well  to  take  a  les- 
son from  it  for  the  future  ;  reproved  the  others,  but  as  I 
thought  by  no  means  so  severely  as  their  conduct  demanded, 
then  took  my  arm  and  led  me  a  little  aside,  until  we  were 
out  of  hearing  of  the  men,  when  he  said,  "  It  is  all  very  well, 
George,  that  these  fellows  should  know  how  strong  you  are ; 
but  I  do  not  want  to  turn  them  against  me  by  any  repetition 
of  the  proof."  , 

I  looked  at  him  in  surprise. 

"  Yes,"  he  went  on,  "  you  would  have  to  repeat  the  pro- 
cess on  a  thousand  other  occasions,  and  not  even  your 
strength  would  suffice  for  such  Herculean  labor." 

"  Let  us  try  that,"  I  said.  I 

"  No  ;  let  us  by  no  means  try  that,"  he  answered. 
"  But  the  whole  estate  is  going  to  ruin  in  this  way,"  I 
cried,  still  under  excitement.  Herr  von  Zehren  shrugged 
his  shoulders,  and  said,  "  Well,  it  has  not  very  far  to  go — 
two  or  three  steps  at  the  farthest.  And  now  you  understand, 
George,  the  word  is.  Things  as  they  are !  As  for  the  men, 
they  are  no  bees  in  point  of  industry,  but  they  have  this 
much  of  bees  about  them,  that  when  they  are  meddled  with 
they  are  very  apt  to  sting.  So  be  a  little  more  cautious  in 
future." 

He  said  it  with  a  smile,  but  I  perceived  very  clearly  that 
he  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and  that  the  paradise  I  had  I 

been  planning  must  be  renounced.  A  paradise  in  which  these 
brigand-looking  malingerers  slouched  about  at  their  pleasure, 
presented  too  glaring  a  contradiction  to  escape  even  my  in- 
experienced eyes. 


m 


A.; 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  8i 

I  cannot  say  that  it  cost  me  much  to  give  up  my  plans  of 
radical  reformation.  I  had  chiefly  thrown  myself  into  them 
because  I  hoped  thus  to  free  myself  of  my  load  of  obligation 
to  my  host.  If  he  did  not  choose  to  be  paid  in  this  way,  it 
was  clearly  no  fault  of  mine  ;  and  when  he  reiterated  to  me 
every  day  that  he  wanted  nothing  of  me  but  myself,  that  my 
company  was  inexpressibly  delightful  to  him,  and,  so  to 
speak,  a  godsend,  whose  value  he  could  not  sufficiently 
prize — how  could  I  help  believing  assurances  that  were  so 
flattering  to  me,  and  how  could  I  withstand  the  allurements 
of  a  life  that  so  exactly  corresponded  with  my  inclinations  ? 

Fishing  and  bird-catching — ^there  is  associated  with  these 
words  an  ominous  warning,  whose  justice  I  was  destined 
to  have  a  long  time  and  a  desperately  serious  occasion  to 
verify  ;  but  even  now  I  cannot  condemn  the  fascination  that 
clings  to  those  occupations  at  which  the  proverb  is  aimed. 
Fish  cannot  be  caught  without  gazing  at  the  water,  nor  birds 
without  gazing  into  the  sky  ;  and  then  the  gliding  waves  and 
the  flying  clouds  get  a  mysterious  hold  of  us — or  at  all 
events  did  of  me,  from  my  very  earliest  youth.  How  often 
as  a  boy,  coming  home  from  school,  did  I  go  out  of  my  way 
to  sit  for  half  an  hour  on  the  outermost  end  of  the  pier,  and 
yield  to  the  lulling  influence  of  the  light  lapping  of  the  waves 
at  my  feet.  How  often  at  my  garret-window  have  I  stood 
gazing  over  my  wearisome  books  at  the  blue  sky,  where  our 
neighbor's  white  pigeons  were  wheeling  in  ethereal  circles. 
And  I  had  always  longed  just  for  once  to  be  able  to  listenl 
to  my  fill  to  the  plashing  waves,  and  gaze  rhy  fill  at  the  ■ 
drifting  clouds.  Then  as  I  grew  older,  and  could  extend 
the  range  of  my  excursions,  I  enjoyed  many  a  happy  hour^ 
many  a  boating-trip,  many  a  ramble  into  the  forest,  many 
an  expedition  after  water-fowl  on  the  beach  with  one  of 
Smith  Pinnow's  rusty  fowling-pieces  ;  but  these  at  best  were 
only  for  a  few  hours  at  a  time,  which  were  far  from  sufficient 
for  the  exuberant  energies  of  youth,  and  were  bought  at  the 
price  of  too  much  incarceration  at  home  and  at  school,  too 
much  care,  trouble,  vexation,  and  anger. 

Now  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  enjoyed  in  full  measure 

all  that  I  had  longed  for  all  my  life  :  forest  and  field  and 

sea-shore,  unlimited  space,  and  freedom  to  wander  through 

all  these  at  my  pleasure  from  the  earliest  dawn  until  far  in 

4*  ' 


82  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  night,  and  a  companion  besides  than  whom  no  fitter 
could  be  desired  by  a  youth  whose  ambition  it  was  to  excel 
in  these  profitless,  ruinous  arts.  The  "  Wild  Zehren's  "  eye 
was  perhaps  not  so  keen  nor  his  hand  so  steady  as  they  had 
been  ten  or  twenty  years  before,  but  he  was  still  an  excel- 
lent shot,  and  a  master  in  everything  belonging  to  field- 
sports.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  where  to  find  the 
game  ;  no  one  had  such  well-trained  dogs,  or  could  handle 
them  so  well  as  he  ;  no  one  could  so  skilfially  take  advantage 
of  all  the  chances  of  the  chase  ;  and  above  all,  no  one  was 
so  delightful  a  companion.  If  his  ardor  during  the  sport 
carried  all  away  with  him,  no  one  could  so  happily  choose 
the  resting-place  in  the  cool  edge  of  the  forest  or  under  the 
thin  shade  of  a  little  copse  by  the  side  of  a  brook,  or  so 
charmingly  entertain  the  tired  party  with  mirth  and  jest  and 
the  most  capitally-told  stories.  But  he  always  seemed  most 
charming  to  me  when  we  two  together  were  on  a  long  tramp. 
If  in  a  large  company  of  sportsmen  he  could  not  conceal  a 
certain  imperious  manner,  and  the  better  success  of  another 
filled  him  with  envy  which  found  vent   in  acrid  sarcasms,  ^ 

there  was  no  trace  of  all  this  when  he  was  with  me.  He 
taught  me  all  the  arts,  adroit  expedients,  and  minor  dexteri- 
ties of  woodcraft,  in  which  he  was  so  well  skilled,  and  was 
delighted  to  find  me  so  apt  a  scholar ;  indeed  he  often 
laughed  heartily  when  I  brought  down  a  bird  which  he  had 
marked  for  his  own  gun. 

And  then  his  talk,  to  which  I  always  listened  with  new 
delight !  It  was  the  strangest  mingling  of  excellently-told 
sporting  stories  and  anecdotes,  acute  observations  of  nature, 
and  biting  satire  upon  mankind,  especially  the  fairer  half  of 
it.  In  the  life  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  women  had  played  an  im- 
portant and  disastrous  part.  Like  so  many  men  of  ardent 
passions  and  fierce  desires,  he  had  probably  never  sought 
for  true  love,  and  now  he  charged  it  as  a  crime  upon  the  sex, 
that  he  had  never  found  it ;  not  even  with  that  unhappy 
lady  whom  he  had  carried  off"  from  her  home  under  such- 
terrible  circumstances,  and  who  brought  him  nothing  but  her 
parents'  curse,  beauty  which  faded  but  too  soon,  and  a  nar- 
row, bigoted  spirit,  uncultured  and  perhaps  incapable  of  cul- 
ture, which  already  bore  in  itself  the  germs  of  madness. 

That  he,  at  that  time  in  his  fortieth  year,  who  had  seen  so 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  83 

much  of  the  world,  and  had  such  wide  experience,  should 
perceive  and  acknowledge  that  the  whole  was  hi^s  own  fault, 
that  he  had  to  attribute  to  himself  all  the  misery  and  mis- 
fortune ensuing  upon  so  wicked  and  insensate  a  union — all 
this  never  occurred  to  him  for  a  moment.  He  was  the  man 
more  sinned  against  than  sinning;  he  was  the  victim  of 
his  generosity ;  he  had  been  cheated  out  of  his  life's  happi- 
ness. How  could  a  man  have  domestic  habits  who  never 
had  any  enjoyment  in  his  home  ?  How  could  he  learn  the 
charm  of  a  calm  and  peaceful  life  at  the  side  of  a  woman 
restlessly  tormented  night  and  day  by  madness  and  super- 
stition  ? 

"  Yes,  yes,  my  dear  George,  I  once  had  fine  plans  of  my 
own  :  I  meant  to  restore  the  old  castle,  laid  waste  in  the 
time  of  the  French  invasion,  to  its  ancient  splendor ;  I 
thought  to  regain  all  the  possessions  that  once  belonged  to 
the  Zehrens  ;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  It  could  not  be,  in  the 
years  when  I  was  still  young  and  full  of  hope  ;  and  do  you 
think  now  to  make  a  careful,  economical  proprietor  of  me, 
now  that  I  am  grown  old  and  half  savage .''  You  buoyant, 
hopeful  young See  !  there  he  goes !  That  comes  of  talk- 
ing. No  ;  don't  shoot  now,  he  is  too  far.  To  heel,  Diana, 
old  girl !  So  frivolous  in  your  old  days  ?  Be  ashamed  of 
yourself !  Yes  ;  what  I  was  going  to  say  to  you,  George, 
was — beware  of  the  women.  They  are  the  cause  of  every 
man's  misfortunes,  just  as  they  have  been  of  mine.  Take 
my  brothers,  for  instance.  There  is  the  steuerrath,  whom 
you  know  :  the  man  was  predestined  to  a  fine  career,  for  he 
is  as  fond  of  the  shining  things  of  this  world  as  any  thievish 
magpie,  cunning  as  a  fox,  smooth  as  an  eel,  and  being  a  man 
without  passions  of  any  sort,  unpretentious,  and  so  could 
easily  hold  his  own.  If  he  absolutely  must  marry,  then,  at 
a  time  when  he  made  no  pretensions,  it  should  have  been 
some  plain  sensible  girl,  who  would  have  helped  him  make 
his  way.  Instead  of  this,  when  he  was  a  mere  penniless 
barrister,  he  lets  himself  be  caught  by  a  Baroness  Kippen- 
reiter,  the  oldest  of  two  surviving  daughters  of  an  army-con- 
tractor, made  a  baron,  I  believe,  by  the  King  of  Sweden,  who 
wasted  in  speculation  the  fortune  that  had  ennobled  him,  to 
the  last  farthing,  and  finally  blew  out  his  brains.  And  now 
the  steuerrath  must  take  the  consequences.     A  Baroness 


84 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


Kippenreiter  will  not  seal  her  letters  with  a  coat-of-arms 
twenty  years  old,  and  have  the  richest  man  in  the  province 
for  a  brother-in-law,  for  nothing.  If  such  a  thorough  ple- 
beian could  rise  to  such  distinction  and  to  the  dignity  of 
commerzienrath,  her  husband,  sprung  from  the  oldest  family 
in  the  province,  must  die  prime  minister  at  the  very  least. 
The  lithe  fox  with  no  pretensions  would  have  found  his  way 
into  the  poultry-house  ;  but  when  with  hunger  and  debt  he  is 
changed  into  a  howling  and  ravenous  wolf,  he  is  hunted  off 
with  kicks,  clubs,  and  stones.  One  of  these  days  they  will 
put  him  off  with  a  pension,  to  be  rid  of  him  once  for  all. 

"Then  there  is  my  younger  brother  Ernest.  He  is  a 
genius  ;  and  like  all  geniuses,  modest,  magnanimous  as  Don 
Quixote,  full  of  philanthropic  crotchets,  unpractical  to  the 
last  degree,  and  helpless  as  a  child.  He  should  have  taken 
a  wife  of  strong  mind,  who  would  have  brought  order  into 
his  genial  confusion,  and  had  the  ambition  to  make  some- 
thing out  of  him.  He  had  the  stuff  in  him,  no  doubt ;  it 
only  wanted  fashioning.  And  what  does  he  do  ?  When  a 
first  lieutenant,  twenty  years  old — for  already,  when  he  was 
little  more  than  a  boy,  he  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
war  for  freedom,  and  came  back  covered  with  orders,  so  that 
attention  was  drawn  to  him,  and  he  had  a  fine  career  before 
him — ^what  does  he  do  .-*  He  falls  in  love  with  an  orphan, 
the  daughter  of  a  painter,  I  believe,  or  something  of  that 
sort,  who  had  served  as  a  volunteer  in  his  battalion,  and  on 
his  death-bed  left  her  in  his  charge — the  generous  soul ! 
He  marries  her  ;  farewell  promotion  !  They  give  our  lieu- 
tenant, who  is  bent  on  a  mesalliance,  an  honorable  discharge, 
with  the  rank  of  captain ;  make  him  superintendent  of  the 
prison  ;  and  there  he  sits  now,  for  these  twenty-five  years,  in 
Z.,  with  a  half-blind  wife  and  a  swarm  of  children,  old  and 
gray  before  his  time,  a  wretched  invalid — and  all  this  for  the 
sake  of  a  stupid  young  goose,  whom  the  first  tailor  or  cob- 
bler would  have  suited  just  as  well.  Women  !  women ! 
Dear  George,  beware  of  women  !  "  I 

Had  Herr  von  Zehren,  when  he  talked  to  me  in  this  way, 
any  special  object  in  view  ?  I  do  not  think  he  had.  I  was 
now  so  much  with  him,  we  often  set  out  so  early,  so  seldom 
returned  at  noon,  and  usually  came  home  so  late  at  night — 
as  a  consequence  I  saw  so  little  of  Constance,  and  that 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  85 

almost  invariably  in  his  presence,  when  I  felt  so  embarrassed 
and  ill  at  ease  on  account  of  the  constant  hostilities  between 
father  and  daughter,  that  I  scarcely  ventured  to  raise  my 
eyes  to  her  face — it  was  not  possible  that  he  could  know  how 
I  admired  the  beautiful  maiden,  how  I  found  her  more  lovely 
every  time  I  saw  her,  and  how  my  heart  beat  when  I  merely 
heard  the  rustle  of  her  dress. 

Then  there  was  another  reason  which  contributed  to  his 
unsuspiciousness  on  this  point.  Fond  as  he  was  of  having 
me  with  him,  and  sincerely  as  he  admired  my  aptness  for 
everything  connected  with  sport,  and  my  remarkable  bodily 
strength,  which  I  liked  to  display  before  him,  still  he  scarcely 
looked  upon  me  as  a  creature  of  his  own  kind.  Poor  as  he 
was,  leading  a  problematical  existence  as  he  had  done  for 
many  years,  he  could  never  forget  that  he  sprarig  from  a  most 
ancient  race  of  nobles,  who  had  once  held  s»way  over  the  /  jf 
island  before  the  princes  of  Prora-Wiek  had  been  heard  of, 
and  when  Uselin,  my  native  place,  afterwards  an  important 
Hanseatic  town,  was  a  mere  collection  of  fishers'  huts.  I 
am  convinced  that  he,  like  a  dethroned  king,  had  in  his  heart 
never  renounced  his  pretensions  to  the  power  and  wealth 
which  had  once  been  his  ancestors' ;  that  he  considered  that 
Trantow,  Granow,  and  a  score  of  other  titled  or  untitled 
gentlemen  who  held  estates  in  the  neighborhood  that  had 
once  belonged  to  the  Zehrens,  had  come  to  their  so-called 
possession  of  these  estates  by  some  absurd  whimsy  of  for- 
tune, but  had  no  genuine  title  which  he  recognized,  and  that 
wherever  he  hunted,  it  was  still  upon  his  own  ground.  This 
mystical  cultus  of  a  long-vanished  splendor,  of  which  he  still 
fancied  himself  the  upholder,  gave  his  eye  the  haughty  look, 
his  bearing  the  dignity,  his  speech  the  graciousness,  which 
belong  to  sovereign  princes  whose  political  impotence  is  so 
absolute,  and  whose  legitimacy  is  so  unassailable,  that  they 
can  allow  themselves  to  be  perfectly  amiable. 

Herr  von  Zehren  was  an  enthusiastic  defender  of  the  right 
of  primogeniture,  and  found  it  highly  unreasonable  that 
younger  brothers  should  bear  and  transmit  the  nobility  that 
they  were  not  permitted  to  represent.  "  I  have  nothing 
to  say  against  a  councillor  of  excise,  nothing  against  a 
prison  superintendent,"  he  said,  "only  they  ought  to  be 
called   Mailer  or   Schultze,   and  not    Zehren."      For  the 


86 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


nobility  of  the  court,  the  public  offices,  or  the  army,  he 
cherished  the  profoundest  contempt.  They  were  only  ser- 
vants, in  or  out  of  livery,  he  maintained  ;  and  he  drew  a 
sharp  distinction  between  the  genuine  old  and  the  "new- 
baked  "  nobility,  to  the  former  class  of  which,  for  example, 
the  Trantows  belonged,  who  could  trace  back  an  unbroken 
pedigree  to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  ;  while  Herr 
von  Granow  had  had  a  shepherd  for  great-grandfather,  small 
tenant-farmer  for  grandfather,  and  a  land-owner,  who  had 
purchased  a  patent  of  nobility,  for  his  father.  "  And  the 
man  often  behaves  as  if  he  was  of  the  same  caste  with  my- 
self '.  The  honor  of  being  permitted  to  lose  his  contempti- 
ble money  to  me,  seems  to  have  mounted  into  his  foolish 
brain.  I  think  before  long  he  will  ask  me  if  I  am  not  wil- 
ling to  be  the  father-in-law  of  a  shepherd-boy.  Thank 
heaven,  in  that  point  at  least  I  can  rely  upon  Constance  ; 
she  had  rather  fling  herself  into  the  sea  than  marry  the  little 
puffed-up  oaf  But  it  is  foolish  in  her  to  treat  poor  Hans  so 
cavalierly.  Trantow  is  a  fellow  that  can  show  himself  any- 
where. He  might  be  put  under  a  glass-case  for  exhibition, 
and  nobody  could  find  a  fault  in  him.  You  laugh,  you  young 
popinjay !  You  mean  that  he  was  not  the  man  that  invented 
gunpowder,  and  that  if  he  keeps  on  as  he  is  going,  he  will 
soon  have  drunk  away  what  little  brains  he  has.  Bah ! 
The  first  fact  qualifies  him  for  a  good  husband  ;  and  as  for 
the  second,  I  know  of  a  certainty  that  it  is  pure  desperation 
that  makes  him  look  into  the  glass  so  much  with  those  star- 
ing eyes  of  his.  Poor  devil :  it  makes  one  right  heartily 
sorry  for  him  ;  but  that,  you  see,  is  the  way  with  every  man 
that  has  anything  to  do  with  women.  Beware  of  the  women, 
George  ;  beware  of  the  women  !  " 

Was  it  possible  that  the  man  who  held  these  views  and 
talked  with  me  in  this  way,  could  have  the  least  suspicion  of 
my  feelings  ?  It  could  not  be.  I  was  in  his  eyes  a  young 
fellow  who  had  fallen  in  his  way,  and  whom  he  had  picked 
up  as  a  resource  against  ennui,  whom  he  kept  with  him  and 
talked  to,  because  he  did  not  like  to  be  alone  and  liked  to 
talk.  Could  I  complain  of  this .''  Could  I  make  any  higher 
pretensions  ?  Was  I,  or  did  I  desire  to  be,  anything  else 
than  one  of  my  knight's  retinue,  even  if  for  the  time  I  hap- 
pened to  be  the  only  one  ?    Could  I  have  any  other  concern 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  Sy 

than  for  the  fact  that  I  could  not  at  the  same  time  devote 
the  same  reverential  service  to  my  knight's  lovely  daughter  ? 


CHAPTER    X. 

SINCE  that  memorable  walk  with  her  through  the  wood  to 
the  ruins  on  the  promontory,  I  had  not  again  been  alone 
with  Constance  for  a  long  time.  During  the  three 
rainy  days  I  saw  her  at  the  dinner  table,  and  perhaps  about 
as  often  at  supper  when  we  returned  from  shooting;  but 
always  in  the  presence  of  her  father,  and  usually  of  Herren 
von  Trantow  and  Granow,  our  companions  of  the  field  and 
the  card-table.  On  these  occasions  she  scarcely  lifted  her 
lovely  eyes  from  her  untouched  plate,  while  the  tall  Hans 
stared  at  her  after  his  fashion,  the  short  Granow  chattered 
away  as  usual,  undisturbed  by  her  chilling  silence,  and  Herr 
von  Zehren,  who  in  his  daughter's  presence  always  seemed 
in  a  singularly  irritated  mood,  loosed  at  her  more  than  one 
of  his  keen  sarcastic  shafts.  These  were  for  me  sad  and 
bitter  hours,  and  all  the  bitterer  as  I,  with  all  my  desire  to 
be  of  service,  felt  myself  s.o  utterly  helpless,  and  what  was 
worst  of  all,  thought  I  observed  that  she  no  longer  excepted 
me  from  the  aversion  which  she  openly  manifested  towards 
her  father's  friends.  In  the  first  days  of  my  stay  at  the 
castle  it  was  entirely  different.  In  those  days  she  had 
always  for  me  a  ready  friendly  glance,  a  kind  word  occasion- 
ally whispered,  a  cordial  if  hasty  pressure  of  the  hand.  This 
was  all  now  at  an  end.  She  spoke  to  me  no  more,  she 
looked  at  me  no  more,  except  at  times  with  a  look  in  which 
indignation  seemed  mingled  with  contempt,  and  which  cut 
me  to  the  heart. 

And  had  I  been  short-sighted  enough  to  mistake  the 
meaning  of  these  looks,  a  word  dropped  by  old  Pahlen 
would  have  opened  my  eyes. 

I  hit  upon  the  idea  of  asking  permission  to  occupy, 
instead  of  my  present  room  in  the  front  of  the  house,  one  of 
the  empty  apartments  looking  on  the  park.     Into  this  I  car- 


88 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


ried  from  time  to  time  various  articles  of  furniture,  most  of 
them  still  valuable,  which  were  lying  about  in  the  dilapidated 
regions  of  the  upper  story,  until  I  had  brought  together  an 
accumulation  which  presented  a  very  singular  appearance. 
Herr  von  Zehren  laughed  heartily  when  one  day  coming  to 
call  me  to  dinner,  as  I  in  my  new  occupation  had  forgotten 
the  hour,  he  caught  me  hard  at  work  arranging  my  worm- 
eaten  and  tarnished  treasures. 

"  Your  furniture  does  not  lack  variety,  at  all  events,"  he 
said  ;  "  for  an  antiquary  the  rubbish  would  not  be  without  in- 
terest. Really,  it  is  like  a  chapter  out  of  one  of  Scott's 
novels.  There,  in  that  high-backed  chair,  Dr.  Dryasdust 
might  have  sat ;  you  must  set  that  here,  if  the  old  fellow 
does  not  tumble  over  as  soon  as  you  take  him  from  the  wall. 
So  !  a  little  nearer  to  the  window.  Isn't  that  a  splendid 
piece  !  It  comes  down  from  my  great-grandfathfer's  time. 
He  was  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Augustus  the  Strong, 
and  the  only  one  of  our  family,  so  far  as  I  know,  who  as 
head  of  the  house  ever  entered  public  service.  He  brought 
from  Dresden  the  handsome  vases  of  which  you  see  a  pot- 
sherd there,  and  a  decided  taste  for  Moorish  servants,  par- 
rots, and  ladies.  But  de  mortuis — Really  the  old  chair  is 
still  right  comfortable.  And  what  a  magnificent  view  of  the 
park,  just  from  this  place  !  I  shall  often  come  to  see  you, 
for  it  is  really  charming." 

In  fact  he  did  come  once  or  twice  in  the  next  few  days, 
while  a  heavy  rain  kept  us  all  in  the  house,  to  smoke  his 
cigar  and  have  a  chat ;  but  when  the  weather  cleared  up,  he 
thought  no  more  about  it,  and  I  was  careful  enough,  on  my 
part,  not  to  recall  my  museum  to  his  recollection.  For  I 
had  only  arranged  it  in  order  to  be  nearer  to  Constance,  and 
to  have  a  view  of  the  park,  about  whose  neglected  walks  she 
loved  to  wander.  I  could  also  see  a  strip  of  the  terrace 
that  lay  under  her  windows,  but  unfortunately  only  the  outer 
margin,  as  the  part  of  the  castle  in  which  she  lived  fell  back 
from  the  main-building  about  the  breadth  of  the  terrace. 
But  still  it  was  something  :  the  faint  light  which  in  the  eve- 
ning fell  upon  the  balustrade  came  from  her  room,  and  once 
or  twice  I  caught  an  indistinct  glimpse  of  her  form,  as  she 
paced  up  and  down  the  terrace,  or  leaning  upon  the  balus- 
trade gazed  into  the  park,  over  which  night  had  already 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  89 

spread  her  dusky  veil.  And  when  I  did  not  see  her,  I 
heard  her  music  and  her  songs,  among  which  there  was 
none  I  loved  better  than  that  which  I  had  heard  the  first 
evening,  and  now  knew  by  heart : 

"  All  day  long  the  bright  sun  loves  me, 
Woos  me  with  his  glowing  light  j 
But  I  better  love  the  gentle 
Stars  of  night." 

In  truth  I  also  loved  them  well,  the  stars  of  night,  for  often 
and  often  when  the  pale  light  had  vanished  from  the  balus- 
trade, and  the  song  I  so  loved  had  long  ceased,  I  still  sat  at 
my  open  window  gazing  at  the  stars,  which  shone  in  all  the 
splendor  of  a  September  night,  and  listening  to  the  solemn 
music  of  the  wind  in  the  ancient  trees  of  the  park. 

In  the  meantime  the  happiness  which  only  young  hearts, 
or  such  as  have  long  retained  their  youth,  can  appreciate, 
was,  as  I  have  said,  but  of  brief  duration.  The  singular 
change  in  Constance's  manner  towards  me,  plucked  me  from 
my  heaven  ;  and  I  tortured  my  brain  in  the  effort  to  discover 
what  cause  had  brought  me  into  her  disfavor.  But  think  as 
I  might,  I  could  find  no  key  to  the  mystery  ;  and  at  last  I 
resolved — though  a  foreboding  of  evil  warned  me  against  it 
— to  have  recourse  to  Pahlen,  who,  if  any  one,  could  solve  me 
the  enigma  that  weighed  so  heavily  upon  my  foolish  head. 

This  ugly  old  woman  had  lately  been  rather  more  oblig- 
ing. I  had  soon  discovered  that  she  was  extremely  fond  of 
money,  and  I  did  not  hesitate  now  and  then,  under  one 
pretence  or  another,  to  slip  into  her  wrinkled  brown  hands 
two  or  three  of  the  thalers  that  I  won  at  the  card-table — for 
naturally  enough  I  had  abandoned  my  resolution  to  play  no 
more.  The  glitter  of  the  silver  softened  her  stony  old  heart ; 
she  no  longer  growled  and  grumbled  when  I  ventured  to 
speak  to  her,  and  once  or  twice  actually  brought  coffee  to 
my  room  with  her  own  hands.  When  I  thought  that  the 
taming  process  was  sufficiently  advanced,  I  ventured  to  ask 
her  about  the  subject  nearest  my  heart — her  young  mistress. 
She  threw  me  one  of  her  suspicious  looks,  and  finally,  as  I 
repeated  my  question,  puckered  her  ugly  old  face  into  a  repul- 
sive grin,  and  said : 

"  Yes  ;  catch  mice  with  cheese  ;  but  you  need  not  try  that 
game  ;  old  Pahlen  is  too  sharp  for  you." 


Qo  Hammer  and  Ativil. 

What  was  the  game  that  I  need  not  try  ? 

As  I  could  not  find  a  satisfactory  answer  to  this  question, 
I  asked  the  old  woman  on  the  following  day. 

"You  need  not  make  as  if  you  did  not  know,"  she  said, 
with  a  kind  of  respect,  inspired  probably  by  my  innocent 
manner,  which  she  naturally  took  for  a  masterpiece  of  de- 
ception ;  "  I  am  not  going  to  betray  my  young  lady  for  a 
couple  of  thalers.  I  have  been  sorry  enough,  I  can  tell  you, 
that  I  helped  to  clear  up  this  room  for  you,  and  she  has 
complained  bitterly  enough  about  it." 

"  But,  good  heaven,"  I  said,  "  I  will  cheerfully  go  back  to 
my  old  room  if  the  young  lady  wishes  it.  I  never  thought 
it  would  be  so  extremely  disagreeable  to  her  if  I  caught  a 
sight  of  her  now  and  then.     I  could  not  have  supposed  it." 

"  And  that  was  all  you  wanted  ?  "  asked  the  old  woman. 

I  did  not  answer.  I  was  half  desperate  to  think  that 
— heaven  knows  how  involuntarily  —  I  had  offended  her 
whom  I  so  deeply  loved ;  and  yet  I  was  glad  to  learn  at 
last  what  my  offence  was.  Like  the  young  fool  I  was,  I 
strode  up  and  down  the  great  room,  and  cried : 

"  I  will  quit  this  room  this  very  day  ;  I  will  not  sleep 
another  night  in  it ;  tell  your  young  lady  that ;  and  tell  her 
that  I  would  leave  the  castle  this  very  hour,  only  that  I  do 
not  know  what  to  say  to  Herr  von  Zehren." 

And  I  threw  myself  into  the  old  worm-eaten,  high-backed 
chair,  at  imminent  risk  of  its  destruction,  with  the  deepest 
distress  evident  in  my  features. 

The  tone  of  my  voice,  the  expression  of  my  countenance, 
probably  joined  with  my  words  to  convince  the  old  woman 
of  my  sincerity. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  she  said,  "  what  could  you  say  to  him  ?  He 
certainly  would  not  let  you  go,  although  for  my  part  I  do 
not  know  what  he  really  wants  with  you.  Do  you  stay  here, 
and  I  will  speak  with  my  young  lady." 

"  Do,  dear,  good  Mrs.  Pahlen  !  "  I  cried,  springing  up  and 
seizing  one  of  the  old  woman's  bony  hands.  "  Speak  with 
her,  tell  her  —  "I  turned  suddenly  red,  stammered  out 
some  awkward  phrase  or  other,  and  once  more  adjured  her 
to  speak  with  her  young  lady. 

The  old  woman,  who  had  been  watching  me  all  the  while 
with  a  curious,  piercing  look,  remained  thoughtful  for  a  few 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  gi 

moments,  then  said  curtly  she  would  see  what  could  be  done, 
and  left  me. 

I  remained,  much  disturbed.  The  consciousness  that  the 
old  woman  had  penetrated  my  secret,  was  very  painful  to 
me  j  but  I  consoled  myself  with  the  reflection  that  if  she  was 
really,  as  she  seemed  to  be,  Constance's  confidante,  I  cer- 
tainly need  feel  no  shame  to  take  her  into  my  confidence 
also  ;  and  finally,  what  was  done  was  done,  and  if  Constance 
now  learned  for  the  first  time  that  I  loved  her,  that  I  was 
ready  to  do  or  to  suffer  anything  for  her  sake,  she  would  cer- 
tainly forgive  me  what  I  had  done.  What  had  I  done,  then  ? 
How  could  she,  who  at  first  received  me  so  kindly,  who  in 
jest  which  seemed  earnest  chose  me  for  her  service,  who  on 
that  evening  exacted  of  me  the  promise  not  to  go  until  she 
gave  me  permission — how  could  she  feel  offence  at  what  at 
the  very  worst  she  could  but  regard  as  a  token  of  my  love 
and  admiration  ? 

Thus,  under  my  inexperienced  hands,  the  threads  of  my 
destiny  were  wound  into  an  evermore  inextricable  clue  ;  and 
with  violent  beatings  of  the  heart  I  entered  an  hour  later  the 
dining-room,  where  to-day,  besides  our  usual  guests,  three  or 
four  others  were  assembled.  They  were  waiting  for  the 
young  lady's  appearance  to  take  their  places  at  the  table. 
After  dinner  they  were  to  go  out  for  a  little  shooting. 

As  was  usual  with  her,  Constance  subjected  her  father's 
impatience  to  a  severe  trial ;  but  at  last  she  appeared. 

I  do  not  know  how  it  happened  that  this  time  I,  who  al- 
ways, when  guests  were  present,  took  my  seat  at  the  foot  of 
the  table,  happened  to  be  placed  next  to  her.  It  was  cer- 
tainly not  intentional  on  my  part,  for  in  the  frame  of  mind 
in  which  I  was,  I  would  have  done  anything  rather  than  ob- 
trude my  presence  upon  my  fair  enemy.  So  I  scarcely  dared 
to  raise  my  eyes,  and  in  my  excessive  confusion  loaded  my 
plate  with  viands  of  which  every  morsel  seemed  about  to 
choke  me.  How  joyfully  then  was  I  surprised,  when  Con- 
stance, after  sitting  for  a  few  minutes  in  her  accustomed 
silence,  suddenly  asked  me,  in  a  low  friendly  tone,  if  I  had 
not  time  to  fill  her  a  glass  of  wine. 

"  Why  did  you  not  ask  me,  meine  Gnddigstel  "  *  cried  Herr 
von  Granow,  who  sat  on  the  other  side  of  her. 


-Kli 


Gnidigste,"  most  gracious.     A  form  of  address  to  ladies  of  rank. — Ta. 


92  Hammer  and  Anvil.  I 

"  I  prefer  to  be  served  in  my  own  way,"  answered  Con- 
stance, almost  turning  her  back  upon  the  little  man,  and  con- 
tinuing to  speak  with  me.  I  answered  as  well  as  I  could, 
and  as  she  continued  speaking  in  a  low  tone,  I  imitated  her 
example,  and  leaned  towards  her  in  order  better  to  catch  her 
words  ;  and  thus,  as  I  looked  into  her  dark  eyes,  I  forgot 
what  she  had  asked  me,  or  answered  at  a  venture,  at  which 
she  laughed ;  and  because  she  laughed  I  laughed  also,  and 
all  this  together  made  up  the  most  charming  little  confiden- 
tial Ute-drUte,  although  we  were  speaking  of  the  most  indif- 
ferent things  in  the  world.  I  took  no  notice  of  anything 
else  that  was  passing ;  only  once  I  observed  that  Hans  von 
Trantow,  who  sat  opposite  us,  was  staring  at  us  with  wide- 
open  eyes  ;  but  I  thought  nothing  of  it,  for  the  good  fellow's 
eyes  usually  wore  that  expression. 

Much  sooner  than  I  could  have  wished,  Herr  von  Zehren 
rose  from  the  table.  Before  the  house  were  waiting  a  lot  of 
barefooted,  bareheaded  boys,  with  creels  on  their  backs  ; 
the  dogs  were  barking  and  leaping  about  the  men,  who  were 
arranging  their  accoutrements  and  loading  their  guns.  Con- 
stance came  out  with  us,  which  she  had  never  before  done, 
and  called  to  me  as  we  were  about  starting,  "  I  cannot  wish 
them  good  luck,  and  would  not  v^'x^  you  bad."  Then,  after 
including  the  rest  in  a  general  salutation,  she  gave  me  a 
friendly  wave  of  the  hand  and  re-entered  the  house. 

"  Which  way  are  we  going  to-day  ?  "  I  asked  Herr  von 
Zehren,  as  I  came  to  his  side, 

"  It  was  long  enough  discussed  at  dinner.  Your  atten- 
tion seems  to  have  been  wandering." 

It  was  the  first  time  that  he  had  ever  spoken  to  me  in  an 
unfriendly  tone,  and  my  countenance  probably  expressed  the 
surprise  that  I  felt,  for  he  quickly  added  : 

"  I  did  not  mean  to  wound  you  j  and  besides  it  was  no 
fault  of  yours." 

We  had  reached  a  stubble-field,  and  the  shooting  began. 
Herr  von  Zehren  posted  me  on  the  left  wing,  while  he  kept 
upon  the  right ;  thus  I  was  separated  from  him  and  did  not 
once  come  near  him  during  the  rest  of  the  day.  This  also 
had  never  before  occurred.  He  had  hitherto  always  kept  me 
by  him,  and  was  delighted  when,  as  often  happened,  more 
game  fell  to  our  two  guns  than  to  those  of  all  the  rest.     My 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  95 

shooting  was  this  day  poor  enough.  The  happiness  which 
Constance's  unexpected  friendliness  had  given  me,  was 
embittered  by  her  father's  unexpected  unkindness.  The 
birds  which  my  dog  Caro  put  up — Herr  von  Zehren  had 
given  me  one  of  his  best  dogs — flew  off  untouched  while  I 
was  pondering  over  the  unhappy  relations  between  father 
and  daughter,  and  how  I  could  not  show  my  affection  for  the 
one  without  offending  the  other,  and  what  was  to  become  of 
my  favorite  scheme  of  reconciling  the  two. 

I  was  quite  lost  in  these  melancholy  reflections  when 
Herr  von  Granow  joined  me.  It  was  already  growing  dusk, 
and  the  day's  sport  was  virtually  over,  only  now  and  then  we 
heard  a  distant  shot  among  the  bushes  of  the  heath.  No 
order  was  now  kept,  and  I  soon  found  myself  alone  with  the 
little  man  as  we  ascended  a  slight  hill. 

"  What  has  happened  between  you  and  the  old  man  ? "  he 
asked,  hanging  his  gun  across  his  shoulders  and  coming  to 
my  side. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  Well,  it  struck  me  in  that  light,  and  not  me  only ;  the 
others  noticed  it  too.  I  can  assure  you  that  he  looked  once 
or  twice  across  the  table  at  ycai  as  if  he  would  eat  you." 

"  I  have  done  nothing  to  oflisnd  him,"  I  ^said. 

"  That  I  can  well  believe,"  continued  the  little  man. 
"  And  this  afternoon  he  scarcely  spoke  a  word  with  you." 

I  was  silent,  for  I  did  not  know  what  to  say. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  pursued  my  companion ;  "  but  do  not  hurry 
so,  nobody  can  keep  up  with  you.  You  are  in  an  ugly  posi- 
tion." 

"How  so?"  I  asked. 

"  Don't  you  really  know 

"  No." 

Herr  von  Granow  was  so  convinced  of  his  superior  acute- 
ness,  that  it  never  occurred  to  him  that  my  ignorance  might 
be  feigned  in  order  to  draw  him  out. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  he  said.  "  You  are  still  young,  and  at  your 
years  one  is  often  deaf  and  blind  to  things  which  we  who 
know  the  world  seize  at  the  first  glance.  The  old  man  and 
the  young  lady  live  together  like  cat  and  dog ;  but  really, 
when  one  thinks  of  it,  neither  has  such  great  cause  to  love 
the  other.     She  leads  a  wretched  life  through  his  fault.     He 


94  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

would  gladly  be  rid  of  her,  but  who  is  going  to  take  her  off 
his  hands  ?  I  have  considered  the  matter  from  all  sides  ; 
hta  it  can't  be  managed — it  really  can't." 

I  was  in  doubt,  when  my  companion  began  to  talk  in  this 
way,  whether  I  should  strike  him  to  the  earth  for  his  impu- 
dence, or  burst  into  loud  laughter.  I  took  a  side-look  at 
him  ;  the  little  man  with  his  short  trotting  legs,  his  foolish 
face  scarlet  from  his  exertions,  and  his  half-open  mouth — I 
could  not  resist,  but  fairl}*^  shook  with  laughter. 

"  I  do  not  see  what  you  are  laughing  about,"  he  said, 
rather  surprised  than  offended.  "  The  little  comedy  which 
she  played  for  you  and  the  rest  of  us  this  afternoon,  can 
hardly  have  turned  your  brain,  if  I  may  so  express  myself. 
And  it  is  just  upon  that  subject  that  I  would  like  to  give  you 
some  information. 

"  What  can  you  mean  ?  "  I  asked.  I 

My  merriment  was  at  an  end,  and  I  was  serious  enough 
now.  A  comedy  which  she  had  played  for  me  ?  "  What 
can  you  mean  ?  "  I  asked  again  more  urgently  than  before. 

Herr  von  Granow,  who  had  been  walking  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  me,  trotted  up  close  to  my  side,  and  said  in  a 
confidential  tone: 

"  After  all,  I  cannot  think  hard  of  you  about  it.  You  are 
still  so  young ;  and  I  often  do  not  know  myself  on  what 
footing  I  am  standing  with  the  girl.  But  this  much  is  clear : 
out  of  pure  obstinacy  against  her  father,  and  perhaps  a  little 
calculation  to  raise  her  own  value,  and  perhaps,  too,  because 
she  thinks  it  will  make  no  difference  anyhow,  but  mainly 
out  of  mere  stubbornness  and  self-will,  has  she  put  on  these 
airs  of  a  princess,  and  behaves  as  if  for  her  I  and  the  rest 
had  no  existence.  If  she  suddenly  began  to  coquet  with 
you  in  my — I  should  say  in  our  presence,  that  really  signi- 
fies nothing  ;  it  is  but  a  little  pleasantry  that  she  allows 
herself  with  you,  and  which  has  no  further  consequences ; 
but  it  must  provoke  the  old  man,  and  it  did  provoke  him.  You 
did  not  observe  it,  you  say,  but  I  can  assure  you  he  bit  his 
lip  and  stroked  his  beard  as  he  always  does  when  anything 
vexes  him." 

The  little  man  had  no  notion  what  a  tumult  he  was  stirring 
up  in  my  breast ;  he  took  my  silence  for  acquiescence  and 
for  acknowledgement  of  his  superior  wisdom,  and  so  pro- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  95 

ceeded,  in  delight  at  being  able  to  speak  of  such  interesting 
topics  and  to  have  secured  such  an  attentive  listener. 

"  I  fancy  that  the  whole  conduct  of  the  young  lady  put#» 
spoke  in  his  wheel.  Do  you  know  how  much  I  have  lost  to 
him  during  the  six  months  that  I  have  been  here  ?  Over 
eight  hundred  thalers.  And  Trantow  nearly  twice  as  much ; 
and  all  the  rest  are  cursing  their  ill-fortune.  He  has  had  a 
wonderful  run  of  luck,  it  is  true ;  it  is  not  always  so  ;  but 
then  when  he  loses  one  must  take  it  out  in  his  wine  and  his 
cognac,  and  you  can  imagine  the  prices  he  rates  them  at. 
Well,  one  wants  something  at  least  foF  one's  mone)'^ ;  for  the 
sake. of  such  a  pretty  girl  one  lets  a  couple  of  hundreds  go, 
and  does  not  watch  the  old  man's  hands  too  closely.  But  it 
used  to  be  all  quite  different ;  she  used  to  join  in  the  play, 
and  smoke  cigars  with  the  gentlemen,  and  go  out  shooting 
and  riding — the  wilder  the  horses  the  better  she  liked  it.  It 
used  to  be  a  heathenish  life,  Sylow  says,  and  he  ought  to 
know.  But  since  last  summer,  and  that  affair  with  the 
prince " 

"  What  affair  was  that  ?  "  I  asked.  I  was  consumed  with 
the  desire  to  hear  everything  that  Herr  von  Granow  had  to 
tell.  I  no  longer  felt  the  contumely  which  this  man  was 
heaping  upon  my  kind  host  and  upon  the  maiden  I  adored ; 
or  if  I  did,  I  thought  that  the  reckoning  should  come  after- 
wards, but  first  I  must  hear  all. 

"  You  don't  know  that  .-•  "  he  inquired,  eagerly.  "  But,  to 
be  sure,  who  could  have  told  you  ?  Trantow  is  mute  as  a 
fish,  and  the  others  don't  know  what  to  think  of  you.  I  hold 
you  for  an  honest  fellow,  and  do  not  believe  that  you  are  a 
spy,  or  leagued  with  the  old  man  ;  his  looks  at  dinner  were 
too  queer  for  that.  You  won't  tell  him  what  I  have  been 
saying  to  you,  will  you  > " 

"  Not  a  word,"  I  said. 

"  Well  then,  this  is  the  story.     Last  summer  the  old  man 

was  at  D ,  and  she  was  with  him.     At  a  watering-place 

people  are  not  so  particular  ;  any  one  who  chose  might  go 
about  with  him.  The  young  Prince  Prora  was  there  too  j  he 
had  persuaded  his  physicians  that  he  was  unwell  and  needed 
sea-bathing,  so  he  was  sent  there  with  his  tutor.  The  old 
prince  was  at  the  Residence,  just  as  he  is  now,  and  the  young 
one  made  good  use  of  his  liberty.     I  had  just  bought  my 


g6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

place  here,  was  no  sooner  on  it  than  I  caught  a  devilish 
rheumatism  on  these  infernal  moors ;  and  so  I  went  there 
for  a  week  or  so  and  saw  something  of  it,  but  the  most  was 
told  me  by  others.  Naturally  enough  there  was  high  play ; 
but  the  highest  was  in  private  circles,  for  at  the  Spieisaal 
they  only  allow  moderate  stakes.  The  prince  kept  con- 
stantly in  the  old  man's  company,  some  said  for  the  sake  of 
the  play,  others,  to  pay  his  court  to  the  young  lady  ;  and 
probably  both  were  right.  I  have  often  enough  seen  them 
sitting  and  walking  together  in  the  park  of  an  evening  ;  and 
they  were  gay  enough,  I  can  testify.  Now  they  say  that  the 
old  man  had  bad  luck,  and  lost  twenty  thousand  thalers  to 
the  prince,  which  he  had  to  pay  in  two  days.  Where  was  he 
to  get  the  money  ?  So,  as  they  say,  he  offered  the  prince 
his  daughter  instead.  Others  say  he  asked  fifty  thousand, 
and  others  again  a  hundred  thousand  for  the  bargain.  Well, 
for  any  one  who  had  the  money,  it  may  be  that  was  not  too 
much ;  but  unluckily  the  young  prince  did  not  have  the 
money.  It  will  be  two  years  before  he  is  of  age,  and  then, 
if  the  old  prince  is  still  alive,  he  will  only  get  the  property 
of  his  deceased  mother,  of  which  not  much  is  ready  cash,  I 
take  it.  In  a  word,  the  affair  hung  fire  ;  and  one  fine  day 
here  comes  the  old  prince,  who  had  got  some  wind  of  the 
matter,  tearing  over  from  the  Residence,  read  the  youngster 
a  terrible  lecture,  and  offered  Zehren  a  handsome  sum  to  go 
out  of  the  country  with  Constance  until  the  young  prince 
was  married.  Now  the  thing  might  have  been  all  arranged, 
for  all  that  Zehren  wanted  was  to  make  a  good  hit  of  it,  if 
he  and  the  prince  could  have  kept  from  personally  appearing 
in  the  business.  But  Zehren,  who,  when  he  takes  the  notion, 
can  be  as  proud  as  Lucifer,  insisted  upon  arranging  the  affair 
with  the  prince  in  person,  and  so  the  scandal  broke  out. 
There  was  a  terrible  scene,  they  say,  and  the  prince  was 
carried  for  dead  to  his  hotel.  What  happened,  nobody 
exactly  knows.  But  this  much  is  certain  :  the  late  princess, 
who  was  born  Countess  Sylow — I  have  the  facts  from  young 
Sylow,  who  is  related  to  the  count — fell  in  love  with  Zehren 
when  he  was  a  young  man  staying  with  the  prince  at  the 
Residence  and  attending  the  court  balls,  and  only  married 
the  prince  because  she  was  compelled  to  it.  The  prince 
either  knew  it  then,  or  found  it  out  soon  afterwards,  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  97 

they  led  a  miserable  life  together.  It  is  probable  that  Zeh- 
ren  and  he,  in  their  dispute,  raked  up  some  of  these  old  sto- 
ries ;  one  word  led  to  another,  as  always  happens.  Zehren 
is  like  a  madman  when  he  gets  into  a  rage,  and  the  prince 
has  none  of  the  coolest  of  tempers — in  a  word,  the  thing 
came  to  an  explosion.  Zehren  left  the  place ;  and  the 
prince  a  day  or  two  later,  with  a  pair  of  blue  marks  on  his 
throat  left  there  by  Zehren's  fingers,  they  said." 

"  And  the  young  prince  1  " 

"  What  did  he  care  ?  All  pretty  girls  are  the  same  to 
him  ;  he  knows  how  to  enjoy  life.  I  wonder  if  he  holds  fast 
this  time.  He  has  already  been  over  three  weeks  at  Rossow. 
I  should  feel  rather  queer  about  staying  in  this  part  of  the 
country  after  what  has  happened.  I  would  not  for  my  life 
meet  Herr  von  Zehren  if  J  knew  that  my  father  had  given 
him  deadly  offence." 

"  What  does  he  look  like  ? " 

"  Oh,  he  is  a  handsome  young  fellow ;  very  slender,  ele- 
gant, and  amiable.  I  fancy  Fraulein  von  Zehren  owes  her 
father  small  thanks  for  having  broken  off  the  affair,  for  I ' 
will  say  for  her  honor  that  she  does  not  know  what  the 
scheme  really  was.  True,  others  say  that  she  knew  it  very 
well,  and  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  arrangement." 

I  listened  with  intensest  interest  to  this  narrative  of  my 
companion's,  as  if  my  life  depended  upon  its  result.  This 
then  was  the  mystery  :  it  was  the  young  Prince  of  Prora  who 
was  the  "  chosen  one  "  of  her  song.  Now  I  remembered 
how  she  blushed  when  Granow  that  evening  alluded  to  the 
prince,  and  at  the  same  time  I  recalled  the  dark  figure  in 
the  park.     Had  I  only  got  him  in  my  hands  ! 

I  groaned  aloud  with  grief  and  anger. 

"  You  are  tired,"  said  the  little  man,  "  and  besides  I  see 
we  have  strayed  considerably  out  of  our  way.  We  must 
keep  to  the  right ;  but  there  are  two  or  three  ugly  places  in 
the  moor,  and  in  the  dusk  I  am  afraid  we  shall  not  be  able 
to  get  through.  Let  us  rather  go  round  a  little.  Heaven 
knows  how  little  you  big  fellows  can  stand ;  there  was  a  Herr 
von  Westen-Taschen  in  my  regiment,  a  fellow,  if  anything, 
bigger  than  you,  only  perhaps  not  quite  so  broad  across  the 
shoulders.  *  Westen,'  I  said  to  him  one  day,  '  I'll  bet  you 
that  I  can  run  ' — but,  good  heavens,  what  is  that  ?  " 


I 


98  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

It  was  a  man  who  suddenly  arose  out  of  a  little  hollow,  in 
which  we  had  not  noticed  him  —  probably  could  not  have 
seen  him  in  the  dusk — about  twenty  paces  from  us,  and  dis- 
appeared again  instantly. 

"  Let  us  go  nearer,"  I  said. 

"  For  heaven's  sake  no,"  whispered  my  companion,  hold- 
ing me  fast  by  my  game-pouch. 

"  Perhaps  the  man  has  met  with  an  accident,"  I  said. 

"  God  forbid,"  said  the  little  man.  "  But  we  might,  if  we 
did  not  keep  out  of  his  way.     I  beg  you  come  along." 

Herr  von  Granow  was  so  urgent,  and  evinced  so  much 
anxiety,  that  I  did  as  he  entreated  me  ;  but  after  we  had 
gone  a  short  distance  I  could  not  refrain  from  stopping  and 
looking  round  as  I  heard  a  low  whistle  behind  me.  The 
man  was  going  across  the  heath  with  long  strides,  another 
rose  from  the  same  spot  and  followed  him,  then  another  and 
another,  until  I  had  counted  eight.  They  had  all  great 
packs  upon  their  backs,  but  went,  notwithstanding,  at  a  rapid 
pace,  keeping  accurate  distance.  In  a  few  minutes  their 
dark  figures  had  vanished,  as  if  the  black  moor  over  which 
they  were  striding  had  swallowed  them  up. 

Herr  von  Granow  drew  a  deep  breath.  "  Do  you  see  ?  " 
said  he,  "  I  was  right.  Infernal  rascals  that  run  like  rats 
over  places  where  any  honest  Christian  would  sink.  I'll 
wager  they  were  some  of  Zehren's  men."  .  j 

"  How  do  yoii  mean  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  well,"  he  went  on,  "  we  all  dabble  in  it  a  little  about 
here,  or  at  least  make  our  profit  of  it.  In  the  short  time 
that  I  have  been  here,  I  have  found  out  that  there  is  no  help 
for  it,  and  that  the  rascals  would  burn  the  house  over  your 
head  if  you  did  not  look  through  your  fingers  and  stand  by 
them  in  every  way.  Only  the  day  before  yesterday,  as  I  was 
standing  by  my  garden-wall,  a  fellow  comes  running  across 
the  lawn  and  says  that  I  must  hide  him,  the  patrol  is  after 
him.  I  give  you  my  word  I  made  him  creep  into  the  oven, 
as  there  was  no  other  hiding-place  handy,  and  with  my  own 
hands  heaped  a  pile  of  straw  before  the  door ;  and  when  the 
patrol  came  up,  five  minutes  later,  said  I  had  seen  the  fellow 
making  for  the  wood.  Upon  my  honor  I  was  ashamed  of 
myself ;  but  what  is  one  to  do  ?  And  so  I  would  not  say 
anything  against  the  old  man,  if  he  only  would  not  carry 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  99 

things  to  such  extremes.  But  he  drives  it  too  far,  I  tell  you, 
he  drives  it  too  far ;  it  must  take  a  bad  turn  ;  there  is  but 
one  opinion  about  that." 

"  But,"  said  I,  taking  the  greatest  pains  to  speak  as  calmly 
as  possible,  "  I  have  been  already  about  three  weeks  here, 
and  I  give  you  my  honor  "  (this  phrase  I  had  lately  caught) 
"  that  as  yet  I  have  not  seen  the  slightest  thing  to  confirm 
the  evil  repute  in  which,  as  I  hear  to  my  great  uneasiness, 
Herr  von  Zehren  stands,  even  with  his  friends.  Yes,  I  will 
admit  that  when  I  first  came  here,  some  such  fancies  came 
into  my  head,  I  cannot  tell  how,  but  I  have  long  driven  so 
disgraceful  a  suspicion  from  n\y  mind." 

"  Suspicion ' "  said  the  old  man,  speaking  with  even  greater 
vivacity,  and  takmg  shorter  and  quicker  steps ;  "  who  talks  of 
suspicion  ?  The  thing  is  as  clear  as  amen  in  the  church. 
If  you  have  observed  nothing — which  really  surprises  me, 
but  your  word  of  course  is  sufficient — the  reason  is  because 
the  weather  has  been  so  bad  Still,  the  business  is  not  alto- 
gether at  a  stand-still,  as  you  have  yourself  just  now  seen.  I 
declare,  one  feels  very  queer  to  think  one  is  sitting  in  the  Very 
middle  of  it  all.  And  last  Thursday  I  had  to  take  a  lot  of 
wine  and  cognac  from  him,  and  Trantow  as  much  more  a 
couple  of  days  before,  and  Sylow  still  more,  but  he,  I  believe, 
divides  with  somebody  else." 

"  And  why  should  not  Herr  von  Zehren  dispose  of  his 
surplus  stock  to  his  friends  ? "  I  asked,  incredulously. 

"  His  surplus  stock  ?  "  cried  Herr  von  Granow.  "  Yes, 
to  be  sure  there  was  a  great  deal  left  over  from  the  last  vin- 
tage ;  he  has  enough  in  his  cellars,  they  say,  to  supply  half 
the  island.  And  that  is  a  heavy  load  for  him  to  carry  ;  for  he 
has  to  pay  the  smuggler  captains  in  cash,  and  the  market  at 
Uselin  has  grown  very  poor,  as  I  hear.  Lately  they  have 
got  very  shy  there.  Since  so  many  have  taken  to  dabbling 
in  the  business,  no  one  thoroughly  trusts  another.  For- 
merly, I  am  told,  the  whole  trade  was  in  the  hands  of  a  pair 
of  respectable  firms.  But  all  that  you  must  know  much  bet- 
ter than  I  ;  your  father  is  an  officer  of  the  customs." 

"  True,"  I  answered,  "  and  I  am  so  much  the  more  sur- 
prised that,  among  so  many,  I  have  never  heard  Herr  von 
Zehren's  name  mentioned — supposing  your  suspicion  to-be 
founded  on  fact." 


loo        •  Hammer  and  Anvil.  j 

"  But  don't  keep  always  talking  about  *  suspicion,' "  cried 
the  little  man,  peevishly.  "  It  is  there  just  as  it  is  every- 
where else,  they  hang  the  little  thieves  and  let  the  big  ones 
go.  The  gentlemen  of  the  custom-house  know  what  they  are 
about.  A  couple  of  thalers  or  louis-d'ors  at  the  right  time 
will  make  many  things  smooth  ;  and  when  one  has,  like  the 
old  man,  a  brother  councillor  of  excise,  Mr.  Inspector  will 
probably  not  be  so  impolite  as  to  interfere  with  the  council- 
lor's brother." 

"  That  is  an  insult,  Herr  von  Granow,"  I  cried  in  a  fury ; 
"  I  have  already  told  you  that  my  own  father  is  an  officer  in 
the  customs." 

"  Well,  but  then  I  thought  that  you  and  your  father  were 
not  on  the  best  terms,"  said  Herr  von  Granow.  "  And  if 
your  father  has  driven  you  off,  why " 

"  That  concerns  nobody  ! "  I  exclaimed,  "  unless  it  be 
Herr  von  Zehren,  who  has  received  me  into  his  house,  and 
been  kind  and  friendly  to  me  always.  If  my  father  has  sent 
me  away,  or  driven  me  off,  as  you  call  it,  I  gave  him  cause 
enobgh  ;  but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  integrity,  and  I 
will  strike  any  man  dead,  like  a  dog,  who  asperses  my 
father's  honor." 

As  Herr  von  Granow  did  not  and  could  not  know  in  how 
many  ways  all  that  he  had  said  had  lacerated  my  tenderest 
feelings,  my  sudden  wrath,  which  had  been  only  waiting  an 
opportunity  to  burst  forth,  must  have  appeared  to  him  terri- 
ble and  incomprehensible.  A  young  man,  who  had  prob- 
ably always  appeared  to  him  suspicious,  and  now  doubly  so, 
of  whose  bodily  strength  he  had  seen  more  than  one  surpris- 
ing proof,  speaking  in  such  a  voice  of  striking  dead— and 
then  the  desolate  heath,  the  growing  darkness — the  little 
man  muttered  some  unintelligible  words,  while  he  cautiously 
widened  the  distance  between  us,  and  then,  probably  in  fear 
of  my  loaded  gun,  came  up  again  and  very  meekly  declared 
that  he  had  not  the  slightest  intention  to  offend  me  ;  that  it 
was  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  respectable  officer  like  my 
father  had  knowingly  placed  his  son  with  a  notorious  smug- 
gler. And  that,  on  the  other  side,  the  suspicion  that  I  was 
a  spy  in  the  pay  of  the  authorities,  could  not  possibly  be  rec- 
onciled with  my  honest  face  and  my  straightforward  con- 
duct, and  was  indeed  perfectly  ridiculous ;  that  he  would 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  loi 

with  all  his  heart  admit  that  everything  that  was  said  about 
Herr  von  Zehren  was  pure  fabrication — ^people  talked  so 
much  just  for  the  sake  of  talking.  Besides,  he,  who  had 
only  recently  come  into  the  neighborhood,  could  least  of  all 
judge  what  there  might  be  in  it ;  and  he  would  be  extremely 
delighted,  and  account  it  an  especial  honor,  to  receive  me  as 
a  guest  at  his  house,  there  where  we  could  now  see  the  lights 
shining,  and  where  the  others  must  have  arrived  long  ago, 
and  to  drown  all  unpleasantness  in  a  bottle  of  wine, 

I  scarcely  comprehended  what  he  said,  my  agitation  was 
so  extreme.  I  replied  curtly  that  it  was  all  right,  that  I  did 
not  believe  he  intended  to  offend  me.  Then  asking  him  to 
excuse  me  to  Herr  von  Zehren,  I  strode  across  the  heath  to- 
wards the  road  which  I  knew  so  well,  which  led  from  Mel- 
chow,  Granow's  estate,  to  2^hrendorf. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  following  morning  was  so  fine  that  it  might  well 
have  cheered  even  a  gloomier  spirit  than  mine.  And 
in  my  fatigue  I  had  fallen  so  promptly  asleep  when 
I  laid  my  tired  head  upon  the  pillow,  and  had  slept  so 
soundly,  that  it  required  some  consideration  upon  awaking 
to  recall  the  circumstances  that  had  caused  me  so  much 
agitation  the  previous  evening.  Gradually  they  recurred  to 
my  memory,  and  once  more  my  cheeks  burned,  and  I  felt, 
as  I  always  did  when  under  excitement,  that  I  must  rush  out 
into  the  free  air  and  under  the  blue  sky  ;  so  I  hurried  down 
the  steep  back-stair  into  the  park. 

Here  I  wandered  about  under  the  tall  trees,  which  waved 
their  light  sprays  in  the  morning  breeze,  along  the  wild  paths, 
and  among  the  bushes  brightened  with  the  sunlight,  at  inter- 
vals listening  to  some  bird  piping  incessantly  his  monoto- 
nous autumn  song,  or  marking  some  caterpillar  swinging  by 
a  fathom-long  filament  from  a  twig  overhead,  while  I  bent 
my  thoughts  to  the  task,  so  difficult  for  a  young  man,  of  ob- 
taining a  clear  view  of  my  situation. 


102  Hammer  and  Anvil.  \ 

I  had  told  Granow  the  evening  before  but  the  simple 
truth :  so  long  as  I  had  been  upon  the  estate  nothing  had 
occurred  to  confirm  his  suspicion.  During  the  whole  of  this 
time  I  had  scarcely  left  the  side  of  Herr  von  ZeTiren.  No 
strangers  had  come  about  the  place  ;  there  had  been  no  sus- 
picious meetings  ;  no  goods  had  been  received,  and  none 
sent  out,  except  a  barrel  or  two  of  wine  to  the  neighbors. 
To  be  sure,  the  people  on  the  estate  looked  as  if  they  were 
accustomed  to  anything  rather  than  honest  industry,  and  es- 
pecially my  tall  friend  Jock  could  not  possibly  have  a  clear 
conscience ;  but  the  cotters  on  the  various  estates  around 
were  all  a  rough,  uncouth,  piratical-looking  crew,  as  indeed 
many  of  them  had  been  fishermen  and  sailors,  and  were  so 
still  when  occasion  offered.  That  the  gang  which  we  had 
seen  crossing  the  heath  did  not  belong  to  our  people,  I  was 
convinced  when  I  passed  the  laborer's  cottages,  and  saw 
Jock  with  two  or  three  others  lounging  about  the  doors  as 
usual. 

And  then,  granting  that  Herr  von  Zehren  was  really  all 
that  evil  tongues  called  him,  still  he  did  nothing  more  or 
worse  than  his  neighbors.  They  all  dabbled  a  little  in  it, 
Granow  had  said ;  and  if  all  these  aristocratic  gentlemen 
made  no  scruple  of  filling  their  cellars  with  wine  that  they 
knew  to  be  smuggled,  the  receiver  was  as  bad  as  the  thief, 
and  Herr  von  Zehren  was  here,  as  always  and  everywhere, 
only  the  bolder  man  who  had  the  courage  to  do  what  the 
others  would  willingly  have  done  if  they  dared. 

And,  after  all,  I  was  bound  to  him  by  the  firmest  ties  of 
gratitude.  Should  I  go  away  for  a  mere  suspicion,  the  silly 
gossip  of  a  prating  tongue,  and  abandon  him  who  had  always 
been  so  kind,  so  friendly  to  ^e .'' — who  had  given  me  his 
best — no,  his  second-best  gun  and  dog ;  whose  purse  and 
cigar-case — and  ah,  what  exquisite  cigars  he  had ! — were  at 
all  times  at  my  service  ?  Never  !  And  even  if  he  really 
were  a  smuggler,  a  professional  smuggler — but  how  could  I 
find  out  once  for  all  whether  he  was  or  not  ? 

Most  simply,  by  going  directly  to  himself.  I  had  justifi- 
cation for  doing  so.  My  honesty  was  questioned  by  his 
friends ;  they  did  not  know  what  to  think  of  me.  I  could 
not  allow  this  to  go  on  unnoticed.  Herr  von  Zehren  could 
not  expect  that  I  should,  on  his  account,  incur  the  dishon- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  103 

oring  suspicion  of  being  either  a  spy  or  an  accomplice.  But 
suppose  he  were  to  say  :  "  Very  well ;  then  go.  I  do  not 
detain  you." 

I  seated  myself  upon  a  stone-bench  under  a  spreading 
maple  at  the  edge  of  the  park,  and  resting  my  elbow  upon 
the  half-fallen  table,  and  leaning  my  head  upon  my  hand, 
gazed  at  the  castle  which  threw  its  shadow  far  over  the 
lawn,  now  golden  in  the  morning  sun. 

Never  had  the  ruinous  old  pile  seemed  so  dear  to  me. 
How  well  I  knew  each  tall  chimney,  each  tuft  of  grass  grow- 
ing upon  the  gray  moss-covered  roof  of  tiles,  the  three  bal- 
conies, two  small  ones  to  the  right  and  left,  and  in  the  mid- 
dle the  great  one  upon  which  the  three  glass  doors  opened 
from  the  upper  hall,  resting  upon  its  massive  pillars  with  the 
fantastic  voluted  capitals.  How  well  I  knew  each  window, 
with  the  weather-beaten  wooden  shutters  that  were  never 
closed,  and  the  most  of  which,  indeed,  were  past  closing. 
Some  were  hanging  by  a  single  hinge,  and  one  belonging  to 
the  third  window  to  the  right  always  slammed  at  night  when 
the  wind  was  from  the  west.  I  had  a  dozen  times  resolved 
to  secure  it,  but  always  forgot  it  again.  The  two  windows  at 
the  corner  to  the  left  were  those  of  my  room,  my  poetic  room 
with  the  precious  old  furniture,  which  to  my  eye  had  such 
an  imposing  effect  that  I  felt  like  a  young  prince  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  magnificence.  What  happy  hours  had  I 
already  passed  in  this  room  !  Early  mornings,  when,  joyous 
in  the  anticipation  of  the  day's  sport,  I  sang  as  I  dressed 
myself  and  arranged  my  ammunition  ;  late  evenings  when 
I  returned  home  with  my  friend,  heated  with  wine  and  play 
and  jovial  discourse,  and  sitting  at  the  window,  inhaled  the 
fragrant  aroma  of  my  cigar,  or  drank  in  large  draughts  the 
pure,  cool  night-air,  while  thoughts  crowded  one  another  in 
my  mind,  foolish  and  sentimental  thoughts,  all  turning  to 
the  fair  maiden  who  doubtless  had  been  slumbering  for 
hours  in  her  chamber  by  the  terrace. 

What  was  it  that  the  shameless  slanderer  had  said  of  her  ? 
I  scarcely  dared  to  recall  his  words  to  my  mind.  I  could 
not  comprehend  how  I  could  have  borne  to  listen  to  them, 
or  how  it  was  that  I  let  him  escape  unchastized  after  so  des- 
ecrating the  object  of  my  idolatry.  The  miserable  creature  ! 
The  conceited,  upstart,  envious  little  oaf !     Little  blame  to 


I04  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

her  that  she  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  such  a  lover  as 
he,  or  the  rest  of  her  country  squires.  And  for  this  they 
now  breathed  their  venomous  slanders  against  her:  said  that 
she  would  have  sold  herself — she,  the  lovely,  the  noble,  the 
pure,  for  whom  a  king's  throne  would  have  been  too  low ! 
Was  there  any  head  more  worthy  of  a  diadem — any  form 
more  fit  to  be  folded  in  the  mantle  of  purple  ?  Oh,  I  desired 
nothing  for  myself;  it  was  enough  for  me  if  I  might  touch 
the  hem  of  her  vesture.  But  the  others  should  honor  her  as 
well  as  I.  No  one,  not  if  he  were  prince  or  king,  should  dare 
to  approach  her  without  her  permission.  If  she  would  only, 
as  she  had  jestingly  said  that  night,  let  me  keep  watch  at  her 
threshold ! 

Thus  humbly  I  thought  of  her  in  my  full,  young  heart, 
that  was  breaking  with  love  and  longing.  And  I  did  it  in 
the  most  assured  conviction,  in  the  firmest  faith,  of  the  no- 
bility and  purify  of  her  I  loved  so  dearly.  I  can  truly  say 
there  was  no  drop  of  blood  in  my  veins  that  did  not  belong 
to  her.  I  would  have  given  my  life  for  her  had  she  asked  it 
of  me,  had  she  taken  me  for  the  true  heart  that  I  was,  had 
she  dealt  honestly  with  me.  Was  it  a  presentiment  of  the 
brief  space  of  time  that  I  was  still  to  cherish  the  simple 
faith  that  there  is  a  spark  of  virtue  in  every  human  breast 
that  nothing  can  entirely  extinguish,  that  made  me  now  bow 
my  head  upon  my  hands  and  shed  hot  tears  ? 

I  suddenly  lifted  my  head,  for  I  fancied  I  heard  a  rustling 
close  behind  me,  and  I  was  not  mistaken.  It  was  Con- 
stance, who  came  through  the  bushes  hedging  the  path  to  the 
beech-wood.  I  sprang  suddenly  in  confusion  to  my  feet,  and 
stood  before  her,  ere  I  had  time  to  wipe  the  traces  of  my 
tears  from  my  cheeks. 

"  My  good  George,"  she  said,  offering  me  her  hand  with  a 
gentle  smile,  "  you  are  my  true  friend,  are  you  not  ?  " 

I  murmured  some  indistinct  reply. 
/  /  "Let  me  sit  here  by  you  a  little  while,"  she  said  ;  "I  feel 
^  somewhat  tired  ;  I  have  been  up  so  long.  Do  you  know 
where  I  have  been  ?  In  the  forest  by  the  tarn,  and  after- 
wards up  at  the  ruin.  Do  you  know  that  we  have  never 
again  gone  there  together  ?  I  was  thinking  of  it  this  morn- 
ing, and  was  sorry ;  it  is  so  beautiful  up  on  the  cliffs,  and 
walking  with  you  is  so  pleasant.     Why  do  you  never  come 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  105 

there  to  bring  me  home  ?  Don't  you  remember  what  you 
promised  me  :  to  be  my  faithful  George,  and  kill  all  the 
dragons  in  my  path  ?     How  many  have  you  killed  ?  "  ' 

She  glanced  at  me  from  under  her  long  lashes  with  her 
unfathomable  brown  eyes,  and  abashed  I  looked  upon  the 
ground.  "  Why  do  you  not  answer  ? "  she  asked.  "  Has 
my  father  forbidden  you  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  but  I  do  not  know  whether  you  are 
not  mocking  me.  You  have  shown  me  lately  so  little  kind- 
ness, that  at  last  I  have  hardly  dared  to  speak  to  you  or  even 
to  look  at  you." 

"  And  yOu  really  do  not  know  why  I  have  lately  been  less 
friendly  towards  you  }  " 

"  No,"  I  answered,  and  added  softly,  "  unless  it  be  because 
I  am  so  much  attached  to  your  father ;  and  how  can  I  be 
otherwise  ? " 

Her  looks  darkened,  "  And  if  that  were  the  reason,"  she 
said,  "  could  you  blame  me  ?  My  father  does  not  love  me  ; 
he  has  given  me  too  many  proofs  of  that.  How  can  any 
one  love  me  who  is  '  so  much  attached  to  my  father  ? '  " — she 
spoke  the  last  words  with  bitterness — "  who  perhaps  reports 
to  him  every  word  that  I  say,  and  to  the  watchers  and  tale- 
bearers by  whom  I  am  surrounded  adds  another,  so  much 
the  more  dangerous  as  I  should  have  expected  from  him 
anything  but  treachery." 

"  Treachery — ^treachery  from  me  ? "  I  exclaimed  with  hor- 
ror. 

"  Yes,  treachery,"  she  answered,  speaking  in  a  lower  tone, 
but  more  rapidly  and  passionately.  "  I  know  that  Sophie, 
my  maid,  is  bribed  ;  I  know  that  old  Christian,  who  skulks 
about,  day  and  night,  watches  me  like  a  prisoner.  I  am  not 
at  all  sure  that  old  Pahlen,  who  shows  some  devotion  to  me, 
would  not  sell  me  for  a  handful  of  thalers.  Yes,  I  am  be- 
trayed, betrayed  on  all  sides.  Whether  by  you — no  ;  I  will 
trust  your  honest  blue  eyes,  although  I  had  really  good  rea- 
son for  suspecting  you." 

I  was  half  distracted  to  hear  Constance  speaking  thus  ; 
and  I  implored  hei:,  I  adjured  her,  to  tell  me  what  horrible 
delusion  had  deceived  her,  for  that  it  was  a  delusion  I  was 
ready  to  prove.     She  should,  she  must  tell  me  all. 

"  Well  then."  she  said.  "  is  it  delusion  or  truth  that  on 


io6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  very  first  evening  of  your  stay  here,  by  order  of  my 
father,  who  brought  you  here  for  that  purpose,  you  kept 
watch  under  my  window,  when  afterwards  you  pretended  to 
me  that  it  was  my  music  that  had  attracted  you  ?  " 

I  started  at  these  last  words,  which  were  accompanied 
with  a  dark  suspicious  look.  That  dark  figure  then  had 
really  been  stealing  to  a  rendezvous  ;  and  he  had  been  there 
since,  else  how  could  she  know  what  had  happened  ? 

"  You  need  make  no  further  confession,"  said  Constance, 
bitterly.  "  You  have  not  yet  sufficiently  learned  your  lesson 
of  dissimulation.  And  I,  good-natured  fool,  believed  that 
you  were  my  faithful  George." 

I  was  near  weeping  with  grief  and  indignation. 

"  For  heaven's  sake,"  I  cried,  *'  do  not  condemn  me  with- 
out a  hearing.  I  went  into  the  park  without  any  special 
intention  ;  without  an  idea  that  I  should  meet  him — any  one. 
If  I  had  known  that  the  man  whom  I  saw  from  this  point 
come  out  of  the  shrubbery  yonder,  came  with  your  permis- 
sion, I  should  never  have  intercepted  him,  but  would  have 
let  him  go  unmolested  where,  as  it  seems,  he  was  expected." 

"  Who  says  that  he  came  by  my  permission,  and  that  he 
was  expected  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yourself,"  I  promptly  answered.  "  The  fact  that  you 
are  informed  of  what  none  but  he  and  I  could  know." 

Constance  glanced  at  me,  and  a  smile  passed  across  her 
features.  "  Indeed !  ".  she  said,  "  how  skilful  we  are  at  com- 
binations !  Who  would  have  believed  it  of  us  ?  But  you 
are  mistaken.  I  know  of  it  from  him,  that  is  true ;  but  I 
did  not  expect  him,  nor  had  he  my  permission.  More  than 
this  :  I  solemnly  assure  you  that  I  had  no  idea  that  he  was 
so  near.  '  And  now  ? '  your  look  seems  to  inquire.  Now 
he  is  as  far  as  he  ever  was.  He  Wrote  to  me  by  a  medium — 
no  matter  how — that  he  made  an  attempt  to  see  me  on  that 
evening,  in  order  to  communicate  something  which  he  did 
not  wish  me  to  learn  from  another.  I  answered  him  by  the 
same  way  that  I  had  already  learned  it  through  another,  and 
that  for  the  sake  both  of  his  peace  and  my  own,  I  entreated 
him  to  make  no  attempt  to  approach  me.  This  is  all,  nor 
will  there  ever  be  more.  It  is  not  my  custom  to  ask  of 
those  that  love  me,  to  sacrifice  for  me  their  futures  and  their 
lives.     And  that  would  be  the  case  here.     That  person  can 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  107 

enter  into  no  engagements  without  his  father's  consent,  and 
my  father  has  taken  care  that  this  consent  shall  never  be 
given.  He  will  only  be  free  after  his  father's  death.  Before 
this  happens  years  may  pass.  He  shall  not  sacrifice  those 
years  to  me." 

"  And  he  consents  to  this,"  I  cried,  indignantly  ;  "  he  does 
not  rather  renounce  his  title  and  inheritance  than  give  you 
up  ?  He  does  not  rather  allow  himself  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
than  renounce  you  ?  And  this  man  possesses  millions,  and 
calls  himself  a  prince .-' " 

"  You  know,  then,  who  it  was  ? "  asked  Constance,  appar- 
ently alarmed,  adding  with  bitterness :  "  To  be  sure,  why 
should  you  not  ?  Of  course  you  are  my  father's  confidant, 
and  told  him  the  whole  adventure  at  once,  as  in  duty  bound." 

"  I  never  breathed  a  word  of  it  to  any  living  creature,"  I 
answered,  "  nor  has  Herr  von  Zehren  ever  in  my  presence 
uttered  the  name  of  the  prince." 

"What  need  of  the  name  ? "  she  retorted.  "Things  can 
be  plainly  told  without  mentioning  names.  But,  whatever 
he  may  have  told  you,  he  never  told  you  that  Carl  is  my  be- 
trothed ;  that  our  union  was  prevented  by  his  fault  alone ; 
that  he  has  ruthlessly  sacrificed  my  happiness  to  a  haughty 
caprice,  to  revenge  himself  upon  the  father  of  my  betrothed 
at  the  cost  of  us  both ;  and  that  far  from  offering  me  an  at 
least  tolerable  existence  in  requital  for  the  brilliant  future 
out  of  which  he  has  cheated  me,  makes  my  life  a  daily  and 
hourly  torment.  He  killed  my  mother,  and  he  will  kill 
me." 

"  For  God's  sake,  do  not  talk  in  that  way,"  I  cried. 

"  This  life  is  no  life  ;  it  is  death — worse  than  death,"  she 
murmured,  letting  her  head  sink  upon  the  table. 

"  Then  you  still  love  him  who  has  abandoned  you  ? "  I 
said. 

"  No,"  she  replied,  raising  her  head ;  "  no !  I  have  al- 
ready told  you  that  as  it  is,  so  it  must  remain.  I  have 
freely  and  entirely  renounced  him.  I  am  too  proud  to  give 
my  heart — which  is  all  I  have  to  give — to  one  who  does  not 
give  me  all  in  return.  And,  George,  can  one  give  more 
than  his  heart  ? " 

I  would  have  answered,  "  Then,  Constance,  you  have  my 
all ;  "  but  my  voice  failed  me.     I  could  but  gaze  at  her  with 


io8  HamTticr  and  Anvil. 

I 
a  look  in  which  lay  my  whole  heart — the  full  heart  of  a 
youth,  overflowing  with  foolish,  faithful  love. 

She  pressed  my  hand,  and  said,  "  My  good  George,  I 
will — yes,  I  must  believe  that  you  are  true  to  me.  And  now 
that  we  have  had  our  talk  out,  and  are  good  friends  again, 
let  us  go  to  the  house,  where  old  Pahlen  will  be  expecting 
me  to  breakfast," 

She  had  fallen  at  once  into  the  tone  in  which  we  had  com- 
menced the  conversation,  and  continued  : 

"  Do  you  go  shooting  to-day }  Are  you  fond  of  shooting  ? 
I  used  to  go  sometimes  ;  but  that  is  long  ago — so  long  ago  ! 
I  used  to  be  a  good  rider,  and  now  I  think  I  could  not  keep 
my  seat  in  the  saddle.  I  have  unlearned  everything ;  but 
chiefly  how  to  be  gay.  Are  you  always  cheerful,  George  ? 
I  often  hear  you  singing  in  the  morning  such  charming 
merry  songs ;  you  have  a  fine  voice.  You  should  teach  me 
your  songs  ;  I  know  none  but  sad  ones."  | 

How  enchanting  this  prattle  was  to  me  !  But  as  her  re- 
cent unkindness  had  made  me  silent  and  reserved,  so  now 
the  unlooked-for  kindness  she  showed  me  produced  the  same 
effect.  I  went  by  her  side,  with  a  half  confused,  half  happy 
smile  upon  my  face,  across  the  wide  lawn  to  the  house, 
where,  on  reaching  her  terrace,  we  separated,  after  exchang- 
ing another  pressure  of  the  hand. 

In  three  bounds  I  had  ascended  the  steep  stair,  flung  open 
violently  the  door  of  my  room,  but  stopped  upon  the  thresh- 
old with  some  surprise,  as  I  saw  Herr  von  Zehren  sitting  in 
the  great  high-backed  chair  at  the  window.         *  .    . 

He  half  turned  his  head,  and  said  :  '   ' 

"  You  have  kept  me  waiting  long ;  I  have  been  sitting 
here  fully  an  hour." 

This  did  not  tend  to  restore  my  composure  ;  from  his  chair 
one  could  see  across  the  lawn  directly  to  the  seat  under  the 
maple.  If  Herr  von  Zehren  had  been  sitting  here  an  hour, 
he  had  certainly  seen  with  his  keen  eyes  much  more  than  I 
could  have  wished.  I  returned  his  salutation  with  great  em- 
barrassment, which  certainly  did  not  diminish  when  he  said, 
with  a  gesture  towards  the  seat :  "  Mary  Stuart,  George,  eh  ? 
Sir  Paulet  the  cruel  jailor  with  the  great  bunch  of  keys  ? 
Enthusiastic  Mortimer — '  Life  is  but  a  moment,  and  death 
but  another ' — eh  ?     Faithless  Lord  Leicester,  who  has  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  109 

convenient  habit  of  taking  ship  for  France  as  soon  as  heads 
are  in  danger !  " 

He  filliped  the  ash  from  his  cigar,  and  then  with  one  of 
those  instantaneous  changes  of  humor  to  which  I  had  grown 
accustomed,  began  to  laugh  aloud,  and  said : 

"  No,  my  dear  George,  you  must  not  turn  such  a  look  of 
indignation  upon  me.  I  am  really  your  friend  ;  and,  as  I 
said  to  you  yesterday,  it  is  no  fault  of  yours,  and  I  frankly 
ask  you  to  forgive  me  if  I  yesterday  for  a  moment  made  you 
suffer  for  what  you  are  entirely  innocent  of  She  has  to  play 
her  comedies  ;  she  has  done  it  from  a  child.  I  have  indeed 
often  feared  that  she  gets  it  from  her  unhappy  mother. 
Many  a  one  has  suffered  from  it,  and  I  not  the  least ;  but 
you  I  would  willingly  save.  I  have  often  enough  warned 
you  indirectly,  and  now  do  it  plainly.     What  are  you  about  ? " 

I  had,  at  his  last  words,  hurried  across  the  room  and 
seized  my  hat,  which  hung  by  the  door.  "  What  are  you 
about  ?  "  he  cried  again,  springing  from  his  chair,  and  catch- 
ing me  by  the  arm. 

'*  I  am  going,"  I  stammered,  while  my  eyes  filled  with 
tears  that  I  vainly  endeavored  to  repress,  "  away  from  here. 
I  cannot  bear  to  hear  Fraulein  Constance  thus  spoken  of" 

"  And  then  it  would  be  such  a  happy  opportunity  to  get 
away  from  me  too,"  said  he,  fixing  his  large  dark  eyes  upon 
mine  with  a  piercing  look  ;  "  is  it  not  so  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  answered,  collecting  all  my  firmness,  "  and  from 
you  too." 

"  Go  then,"  he  said. 

I  moved  towards  the  door,  and  was  feeling  for  the  latch, 
for  my  eyes  were  blinded  with  tears. 

"  George,"  he  cried,  "  George !  " 

The  tone  cut  me  to  the  heart ;  I  turned,  and  seizing  both 
his  hands,  exclaimed  : 

"  No ;  I  cannot  do  it.  You  have  been  so  good  to  me ;  I 
cannot  leave  you  of  my  own  will." 

Herr  von  Zehren  led  me  gently  to  the  great  chair,  and 
paced  several  times  up  and  down  the  room,  while  I  buried 
my  head  in  my  hands.     Then  he  stood  before  me  and  said  : 

"  What  did  Granow  say  to  you  yesterday  ?  Did  he  slan- 
der me  to  you  as  he  has  slandered  you  to  me  ?  Did  he  warn 
you  against  me,  as  he  has  warned  me  against  you  ?     No ; 


no  Hammer  and  Anvil.  i 

do  not  answer  ;  I  do  not  want  to  know.  It  is  just  as  if  I 
had  been  there  and  heard  it  all.  Every  one  knows  how 
double-tongued  old  women  talk."  4 

"  Then  it  is  not  true .''  "  I  exclaimed,  starting  from  the 
chair.  "  Certainly,  certainly,  it  is  not  true  ;  I  never  be- 
lieved it.  I  did  not  believe  that  miserable  creature  yesterday 
— not  for  one  moment." 

"  And  now  only,  for  the  first  time  ?  "  said  he,  turning  his 
piercing  look  again  upon  me.  But  I  did  not  again  lower 
my  eyes  ;  I  met  his  gaze  firmly,  and  calmly  answered  : 

"  I  will  not  believe  it  until  I  hear  it  from  your  own  lips." 

"  And  if  I  confirm  it,  what  then  ?  "  ' 

"  Then  I  will  implore  you  to  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  it.  It  cannot  end  well,  and  it  fills  me  with  horror  to 
think  that  it  might  end  terribly." 

"  You  think,"  he  said,  and  a  bitter  smile  contracted  his 
features,  "  that  it  would  not  be  a  pleasant  thing  to  read  in 
the  papers  :  '  To-day  Malte  von  Zehren  of  Zehrendorf  was 
condemned  to  twenty  years'  hard  labor,  and  in  pursuance 
of  his  sentence  was  conveyed  to  the  penitentiary  at  S.,  the 
director  of  which,  as  is  well  known,  is  the  brother  of  the 
criminal } '  Well,  it  would  not  be  the  first  time  that  a  Zeh- 
ren was  an  inmate  of  a  prison."  | 

He  laughed,  and  began  to  speak  with  vehemence,  some- 
times pacing  the  room,  and  then  stopping  before  me. 

"  Not  the  first  time.  When  I  was  young — it  may  now  be 
thirty  years  ago,  or  more — there  stood  in  their  cursed  nest, 
in  a  waste  place  between  the  town  wall  and  the  ramparts,  an 
old  half-rotten  gallows,  and  on  the  gallows  were  nailed  two 
rusty  iron  plates,  upon  which  there  stood  half-defaced  names, 
and  one  of  these  names  was  Malte  von  Zehren,  with  the  date 
1436.  I  recognized  it  by  the  date  ;  and  one  night,  with  the 
friend  of  my  youth,  Hans  von  Trantow — the  father  of  our 
Hans — I  wrenched  it  ofi",  cut  down  the  gallows,  and  pitched 
it  over  the  rampart  into  the  fosse.  Do  you  know  how  my 
ancestor's  name  came  there  .''  He  had  a  feud  with  the  Pep- 
persacks  there  in  the  town,  and  they  had  sworn,  if  they 
caught  him,  to  hang  him  on  the  gallows.  And  though  he 
heard  of  it,  and  knew  that  there  would  be  no  mercy  for  him, 
he  slipped  into  the  town  in  disguise,  during  the  carnival,  for 
the  love  of  a  townsman's  pretty  daughter.     You  see,  my 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  in 

dear  George,  the  women — they  are  at  the  bottom  of  all  mis- 
chief. And  they  caught  him  too,  early  next  morning,  as  he 
was  stealing  away,  flung  him  into  the  dungeon,  and  the  next 
day  he  was  to  be  hanged,  to  the  delight  of  all  the  good 
townsfolk.  But  a  page  who  accompanied  him,  and  who  had 
escaped,  carried  the  news  to  Hans  von  Trantow,  and  Hans 
sent  off  a  score  of  riders  to  all  cousins  and  kinsfolk  over 
the  whole  island,  and  that  night  they  crossed  over  in  twenty 
boats,  two  hundred  of  them,  with  Hans  at  their  head,  forced 
their  way  into  the  town,  broke  into  the  dungeon  and  rescued 
my  ancestor,  the  good  fellows,  and  then  set  the  old  nest  on 
fire  at  its  four  corners  and  burned  it  down.  So  as  the  towns- 
men had  lost  Malte  von  Zehren,  they  contented  themselves 
with  nailing  his  name  upon  the  gallows. 

"  And  what  was  the  origin  of  the  feud  ?  The  Sound-dues, 
which  the  Lords  of  Zehren  had  levied  for  centuries,  and 
which  the  Peppersacks  now  laid  claim  to.  By  what  right  ? 
I  ask  you  now,  by  what  right  ?  At  a  time  when  their  ped- 
lars' nest  was  a  mere  cluster  of  hovels  inhabited  by  wretched 
fishermen,  the  Zehrens  were  living  as  lords  and  masters  in  a 
block-house  surrounded  by  a  rampart,  as  men  used  to  do  in 
the  earliest  times  ;  then  irt  a  castle  of  stone,  with  towers  and 
battlements,  and  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  from  up  yonder 
over  forests  and  coves  into  the  island,  no  hearth  smoked  in 
house  or  hut  at  which  vassals  and  retainers  of  the  castle  did 
not  warm  themselves  ;  and  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  from 
up  there  over  the  sea,  no  sail  swelled  and  no  pennon  flew 
that  did  not  pay  tribute  to  the  castle.  Do  you  think,  young 
man,  that  things  like  these  can  be  forgotten  ?  Do  you  sup- 
pose that  I  can  learn  to  feel  myself  under  one  law  with  a 
crew  that  crawled  before  my  ancestors  in  the  dust  ?  or  to 
acknowledge  any  master  over  me  ?  By  the  grace  of  God — 
and  what  is  that  ?  Where  were  these  fellows  '  by  the  grace 
of  God  '  four  or  five  hundred  years  ago  ?  I  could  sit  where 
they  sit  now,  with  just  as  good  a  right ;  my  escutcheon  in- 
stead of  theirs  would  flaunt  on  every  gate  and  guard-house, 
and  in  my  name  would  tolls  and  taxes  be  levied.  And  now 
'sdeath  !  here  1  sit,  a  Lord  Lack-all,  in  this  box  of  stone, 
which  before  long  will  fall  in  over  my  head,  and  not  a  foot 
of  the  soil  on  which  I  tread  can  I  call  my  own.  See 
there — "  he  stepped  to  the  open  window,  and  pointed  out 


112  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

with  a  hand  trembling  with  emotion — "  you  once  asked  me 
why  I  did  not  turn  those  into  money.  There  are  thousands 
upon  thousands  in  the  forest,  and  I  answered  that  I  had  not 
the  heart  to  have  the  old  trees  hewn  down.  It  was  the  truth ; 
I  could  not  do  it ;  and  the  only  right  that  I  have  over  them 
is  that  I  can  keep  them  from  being  cut  down  as  long  as  I 
live.  Not  a  tree  belongs  to  me — not  a  sapling — not  enough 
to  serve  for  my  coffin  ;  every  twig  belongs  to  that  mounte- 
bank, your  Croesus,  who  calls  himself  commerzienrath,  and 
is  well  named  Streber  [Striver.]  I  see  the  stockfish  still, 
distorting  his  crooked  mouth  as  he  counted  down  the  pittance 
on  the  table  and  crammed  the  contract  into  his  pocket.  He 
thought :  *  It  will  not  last  him  long,  and  then  he  will  blow 
out  his  brains.'  It  has  not  lasted  long;  and  he  may  have 
been  as  correct  in  his  other  anticipation. 

"  But  I  cannot  imagine  what  talkative  demon  possesses 
me  this  morning  ;  I  believe  that  I  have  been  infected  by 
that  old  washerwoman,  Granow.  Or  perhaps  it  is  because 
I  have  to  make  up  for  yesterday  evening.  In  truth,  George, 
I  missed  you  exceedingly.  Trantow,  the  good  fellow,  brought 
me  home  out  of  pure  compassion,  because  he  saw  what  a 
trial  it  would  be  to  me  to  smoke  my  last  cigar  alone.  And 
I  tell  you  it  cost  me  dearly  that  you  were  not  with  me.  It 
went  hard  with  me,  George,  terribly  hard.  Old  hawk  as  I 
am,  they  plucked  me  until  the  feathers  flew  ;  but  we  will  pay 
them  back  this  evening.  We  shall  meet  at  Trantow's,  where 
I  have  always  been  lucky ;  but  you  are  not  to  quit  my  side. 
And  now  drink  your  coffee,  and  come  down  in  half  an  hour ; 
I  have  a  letter  or  two  to  write ;  the  steuerrath  wants  to  be 
once  more  delivered  from  his  thousand-and-one  embarrass- 
ments ;  but  this  time  I  cannot  help  him,  at  all  events  not  to- 
day ;  he  must  wait  awhile  yet.  In  half  an  hour  then,  and 
afterwards  we  will  go  down  to  the  beach.  I  feel  a  little 
\  feverish  to-day,  and  the  sea-breeze  will  do  me  good." 

He  went,  and  left  me  in  a  singular  frame  of  mind.  I  felt 
as  if  he  had  told  me  everything,  and  yet,  when  I  thought  it 
over,  it  was  no  more  than  what  he  had  often  said  to  me 
before.  I  felt  as  if  I  had  bound  myself  to  him  body  and 
soul,  and  yet  he  had  taken  no  promise  from  me.  But  this 
was  just  the  thing  which  made  me  feel  more  than  ever 
attached  to  this  singular  man.     If  he  was  magnanimous 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  113 

enough  not  to  take  me  with  him  upon  his  ship,  which  he 
saw  was  driving  to  destruction,  could  I  stand  calmly  on  the 
safe  shore  and  watch  him  struggling  and  sinking  in  the 
waves  ? 

My  youthful  fancy  kindled  at  his  romantic  story  of  the 
knight  who  had  been  at  feud  with  my  native  town.  I  wished 
that  I  had  been  there ;  I  fancied  myself  playing  the  part  of 
the  page  who  made  his  way  out  at  risk  of  his  life  to  bring 
help  and  rescue  to  his  beloved  lord.  Should  my  thoughts 
be  more  mean,  my  actions  more  craven  than  those  of  that 
boy  ?  And  were  we  not  in  similar  circumstances  ?  Was  not 
my  knight  at  the  last  extremity  ?  Had  not  the  Peppersacks 
taken  his  all  ? — left  him  nothing  of  all  the  heritage  of  his 
ancestors — him,  that  kingly  man  ?  How  he  had  stood  be- 
fore me,  the  tall  noble  form  with  flashing  eyes,  and  anguish 
imprinted  in  his  pale,  deeply-furrowed  face  with  its  flowing 
beard.  This  man  to  have  planned  to  sell  his  daughter  ! 
And  a  creature  like  the  commerzienrath  should  one  day  be 
lord  here  in  his  stead  !  The  creature  with  his  close-shaven 
fox-face,  his  blinking,  thievish  eyes,  and  his  clumsy,  greedy 
hands  ;  the  man  who  had  foredoomed  me  to  the  gallows. 
Yes,  they  had  dealt  with  me  no  better  than  with  my  knight. 
They  had  driven  me  out  of  the  town,  and  now,  thank  heaven, 
I  had  a  right  to  hate  them  as  I  had  always  despised. 

Thus  my  foolish  brain  was  heated  more  and  more.  The 
charm  of  adventure,  the  inward  delight  in  this  uncontrolled 
life,  which  I  called  liberty,  a  monstrous  confusion  of  the  con- 
ceptions of  right  and  duty,  gratitude,  hot  blood  of  youth, 
passionate  first-love — all  held  me  spell-bound  in  this  charmed 
circle,  which  was  a  world  to  me.  All  drew  me  with  irresisti- 
ble force  to  the  man  who  seemed  to  me  the  perfect  ideal  of 
a  knight  and  a  hero,  to  the  lovely  maiden  who  so  far  exceeded 
my  wildest  dreams.  And  the  fact  that  these  two,  to  whom 
I  clung  with  equal  love,  stood  opposed  to  each  other,  only 
tended  to  confirm  the  dream  of  my  own  indispensability.  In 
their  several  ways,  each  had  been  equally  kind  to  me,  had 
shown  me  equal  confidence.  The  fulfilment  of  my  most  ar-  • 
dent  wish,  that  of  seeing  them  reconciled,  had  never  appeared 
so  near  as  this  morning,  when  I  paced  my  room  and  looked 
out  of  the  windows  at  the  blue  sky,  in  which  great  white  mo- 
tionless clouds  were  standing,  and  upon  the  park  whose  ma- 


114  Hammer  and  Anvil.  .  .f 

jestic  groups  of  trees  and  broad  expanses  of  grass  were 
magically  lighted  by  the  splendor  of  the  sun. 

How  could  I  have  believed  that  these  white  clouds  would 
so  soon  spread  into  a  sable  pall  and  obscure  that  sun — that 
I  had  seen  my  paradise  in  its  magic  radiance  for  the  last 
time? 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  confidence  with  which  Herr  von  Zehren  had  looked 
forward  to  that  evening,  which  at  the  very  least  was 
to  repair  his  former  ill-fortune,  was  after  all  a  deceit- 
ful one.  It  may  be  that  an  incident  which  occurred  just  pre- 
viously, deprived  him  of  that  coolness  which  this  evening  he 
more  than  ever  needed.  For  on  our  way  up  from  the  beach, 
where  we  had  shot  a  brace  of  rabbits  among  the  dunes,  as 
crossing  the  heath  we  drew  near  to  Trantowitz,  a  cavalcade 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  attended  by  a  couple  of  liveried 
servants,  came  galloping  by.  My  attention  was  entirely 
attracted  by  a  slender  young  man  riding  a  superb  English 
horse,  who,  at  the  moment  he  passed  me,  was  leaning  over 
to  one  of  the  ladies  with  a  charming  smile  on  his  pale  face, 
on  which  a  downy  moustache  just  darkened  the  upper  lip. 
The  lady  gave  her  horse  a  sudden  cut  with  the  whip,  and 
they  shot  on  in  advance.  I  gazed  for  a  moment  after  the 
company,  and  was  turning  to  Herr  von  Zehren  with  the 
question  :  "  Who  are  they  ? "  when  I  checked  myself  in  sur- 
prise at  the  change  in  his  countenance.  We  had  just  been 
chatting  pleasantly  together,  and  there  now  lay  in  his  looks 
an  expression  of  the  blackest  wrath,  and  he  had  unslung  his 
gun  and  half  raised  it  to  his  shoulder,  as  if  he  would  send  a 
shot  after  the  retreating  party.  Then  he  flung  it  hastily 
over  his  shoulder  again,  and  walked  a  short  distance  silent 
at  my  side,  until  he  suddenly  broke  out  into  the  most  furi- 
ous execrations,  which  I  had  never  before  heard  from  him, 
though  he  could  be  angry  enough  upon  occasion.  "  The 
hound  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  he  dares  to  come  here  upon  the 
soil  that  belongs  to  my  friend  Trantow  !     And  I  stand  qui; 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"5 


etly  here  and  do  not  drive  a  charge  of  shot  through  him  ! 
Do  you  know  who  that  was,  George  ?  The  villain  who  will 
one  day  be  lord  of  a  hundred  manors  which  by  right  are  all 
mine,  whose  ancestors  were  my  ancestors'  vassals,  and  whose 
scoundrelly  father  came  to  me  to  tell  me  in  my  own  apartment 
that  he  desired  to  marry  his  son  according  to  his  rank,  and  that 
he  trusted  we  could  come  to  some  satisfactory  arrangement. 
I  clutched  him  by  his  accursed  throat,  and  would  have  stran- 
gled him  if  others  had  not  come  between  us.  The  thing  has 
been  gnawing  at  my  heart  incessantly,  ever  since  I  heard 
that  the  villain  was  going  about  the  neighborhood  here.  And 
now  you  know  why  Constance  and  I  are  upon  so  unfortu- 
nate a  footing.  Heaven  knows  what  fancies  she  is  nursing ; 
and  it  drives  me  mad  to  see  that  her  thoughts  still  cling  to 
the  miscreant  who  has  offered  her  the  grossest  insult  that 
man  can  offer  to  woman ;  who  has  tarnished  my  ancestral 
escutcheon,  and  should  fight  me  to  the  death,  but  for " 

He  checked  himself  suddenly,  and  walked  silently  by  my 
side,  gnawing  his  lip.  Not  noticing  the  irregularities  of  the 
wretched  road,  he  stumbled  once  or  twice,  and  this  stum- 
bling, combined  with  the  expression  of  his  face,  in  which  the 
wrinkles  deepened  to  furrows  whenever  he  was  under  strong 
emotion,  gave  him  the  appearance  of  a  broken  old  man  con- 
sumed by  impotent  anger.  Never  before  had  he  appeared 
so  much  in  need  of  help,  so  worthy  of  compassion,  and  never 
before  had  I  pitied  him  so,  or  so  yearned  to  assist  him.  At 
the  same  time  I  thought  that  so  favorable  an  opportunity  to 
clear  up  the  misunderstanding  that  evidently  existed  between 
father  and  daughter  in  reference  to  their  relations  with  the 
prince,  would  not  easily  again  occur.  So  I  plucked  up  a 
heart  and  asked : 

"  Does  Fraulein  Constance  know  how  much  she  has  been 
insulted  ? " 

"  How  ?    What  do  you  mean  ? "  he  asked  in  return. 

I  told  him  what  I  had  been  speaking  oif  with  Constance 
that  morning  ;  how  little  suspicion  she  seemed  to  have  of  the 
outrage  that  had  been  offered  her ;  that  on  the  contrary  she 
had  expressly  told  me  that  she  had  been  betrothed  to  the 
prince,  that  their  predetermined  union  had  been  prevented 
by  Herr  von  Zehren's  fault  alone,  and  that  she  had  renounced 
freely  and  utterly  all  thought  of  the  possibility  of  their  marriage. 


ii6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

But  the  audacity  with  which  he  had  attempted  to  approach  her, 
the  correspondence  which  had  taken  place  between  them,  I 
kept  to  myself,  feeling  that  this  would  only  awaken  anew  the 
wrath  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  and  render  him  deaf  to  all  reason. 

But  it  was  all  to  no  purpose.  He  listened  to  me  with 
every  sign  of  impatience,  and  when  I  paused  for  breath  in 
my  eagerness,  he  broke  out : 

"  Does  she  say  that  ?  What  will  she  not  say  ?  And  that 
too  now,  after  I  have  told  her  not  once,  but  a  hundred  times, 
what  was  asked  of  me,  how  my  honor  and  my  name  were 
trampled  in  the  mire  !  She  will  next  asseverate  that  the 
Emperor  of  China  has  been  a  suitor  for  her  hand,  and  that 
it  is  my  fault  that  she  is  not  now  enthroned  in  Pekin  !  Why 
not  ?  Turandot  is  as  pretty  a  part  as  Mary  Stuart.  Prepare 
yourself  soon  to  see  her  in  Chinese  attire." 

It  was  easy  to  perceive  how  little  mirth  lay  in  these  mock- 
ing words,  and  I  did  not  venture  to  press  further  so  painful 
a  theme.  We  came,  besides,  in  a  few  minutes  to  Trantowitz, 
where  Hans  received  us  at  the  door  with  his  good-natured 
laugh,  and  led  us  into  his  living-room,  (which,  besides  his 
chamber,  was  the  sole  habitable  apartment  in  the  great 
house,)  where  the  other  guests  were  assembled. 

The  evening  passed  like  so  many  others.  Play  began 
before  supper,  and  was  resumed  after  that  meal,  during  which 
the  bottle  had  circulated  freely.  I  had  resolved  not  to  play, 
and  could  the  more  easily  keep  this  resolution,  as  all  the 
rest,  with  the  exception  of  our  host,  whom  nothing  could 
move  from  his  accustomed  equanimity,  were  entirely  absorbed 
by  the  unusually  high  play,  and  had  not  time  to  pay  any 
attention  to  me. 

So  there  I  sat,  in  the  recess  of  a  window,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  table,  and  watched  the  company,  whose  be- 
havior now,  when  I  was  not  a  participant  in  it,  seemed 
strange  enough.  The  fiery  eyes  in  the  flushed  faces  ;  the 
silence  only  broken  by  the  monotonous  phrases  of  the  bank- 
er, or  a  hoarse  laugh  or  muttered  curse  from  the  players  ; 
the  avidity  with  which  they  poured  down  the  flasks  of  wine ; 
the  whole  scene  wrapped  in  a  gray  cloud  of  cigar-smoke 
which  grew  denser  every  moment ; — it  was  far  from  a  plea- 
sant sight,  and  strange,  confused,  painful  thoughts  whirled 
through  my  weary  brain,  as  I  sat  watching  the  fortunes  of 


!_■ 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


117 


the  play,  and  listening  at  intervals  to  the  rustling  of  the 
night-wind  that  bent  the  old  poplars  before  the  house,  and 
drove  a  few  rain-drops  against  the  windows.  Suddenly  I 
was  aroused  from  a  half  doze  by  a  loud  uproar  that  broke 
out  among  the  players.  They  sprang  from  their  chairs  and 
vociferated  at  each  other  with  wild  looks  and  threatening 
gestures  ;  but  the  tumult  subsided  as  quickly  as  it  had  arisen, 
and  they  sat  again  bending  in  silence  over  their  cards,  and 
once  more  I  listened  to  the  wind  in  the  poplars,  and  the  dash- 
ing of  the  rain  against  the  panes,  until  at  last  I  fell  asleep. 

A  hand  upon  my  shoulder  aroused  me.  It  was  Herr  von 
Zehren.  The  first  look  at  his  pale  face,  from  which  his  eyes 
were  flashing  wildly,  told  me  that  he  had  been  losing  again, 
and  he  confirmed  it  as  we  walked  back  the  short  distance  to 
Zehrendorf  through  the  black  tempestuous  night. 

"  It  is  all  over  with  me,"  he  said ;  "  my  old  luck  has 
abandoned  me  ;  the  sooner  I  blow  out  my  brains  the  better. 
To  be  sure,  I  have  a  week  yet  Sylow,  who  is  a  good  fel- 
low, has  given  me  so  much  time.  In  a  week  perhaps  all 
may  be  managed  ;  only  to-morrow  the  draft  falls  due,  and  of 
course  my  brother  cannot  pay  it.  I  must  see  about  it,  I 
must  see  about  it.'' 

He  spoke  more  to  himself  than  to  me.  Suddenly  he 
stopped,  looked  up  at  the  black  lowering  clouds,  then  walked 
on,  muttering  between  his  teeth  : 

"  I  knew  it,  I  knew  it,  as  soon  as  I  saw  the  villain.  It 
could  not  but  bring  me  ill-luck ;  his  accursed  face  has  always 
brought  me  misfortune.  And  now  to  have  to  see  how  they 
quaff  the  foam  from  the  beaker  of  life,  while  they  leave  us 
the  bitter  dregs !  And  I  cannot  have  revenge — cannot  take 
his  life !  "• 

We  had  reached  a  piece  of  woods  near  the  house,  which 
was  really  a  projecting  corner  of  the  forest,  but  was  consid- 
ered as  part  of  the  park.  The  road  here  divided ;  the 
broader  fork  led  along  the  edge  of  the  wood ;  and  the  nar- 
rower, which  was  only  a  foot-path,  ran  directly  through  the 
trees.  This  was  the  nearer  way,  but  also  the  rougher  and 
darker,  and  Herr  von  Zehren,  who  in  his  present  ill-humor 
had  more  than  once  grumbled  at  the  darkness  and  the  bad 
road,  proposed  that  we  should  not  take  our  usual  path 
through  the  park. 


ii8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  I  should  like  to  find  out,"  I  said,  "  if  the  buck  whose 
tracks  we  saw  day  before  yesterday,  is  belling  in  the  south 
forest  again.  We  cannot  hear  it  from  here,  but  in  there  we 
ought  to  hear  it." 

"  You  go  through,  then,"  he  said,  "  but  do  not  stay  too 
long." 

"I  expect  I  shall  be  at  the  other  side  before  you."         I 

It  was  not  so  dark  in  the  woods  as  I  had  feared  ;  at  times 
the  moon  shone  pretty  bright  through  the  scudding  clouds. 
I  reproached  myself  for  leaving  Herr  von  Zehren  alone  at 
this  hour,  and  had  thoughts  of  turning  back ;  but,  impelled 
by  the  hunter's  ardor,  I  pushed  on,  slowly  and  cautiously, 
often  stopping  and  listening,  while  I  held  my  breath,  to  see 
if  I  could  catch  any  sound  of  the  buck  in  the  woods.  Once 
I  thought  I  heard  a  faint  bellow,  but  I  was  not  quite  sure. 
If  so,  it  must  be  very  distant,  and  in  a  different  quarter  from 
where  we  expected  the  buck  to  be  at  this  hour.  It  might  be 
another.  I  was  anxious  to  find  out,  and  stood  still  again  to 
listen.  Suddenly  I  heard  a  noise  behind  me  like  the  trot  of 
a  horse  coming  along  the  path  in  which  I  was.  My  heart 
stopped  for  an  instant,  and  then  began  to  beat  violently. 
Who  could  be  the  rider,  in  the  dead  of  night,  upon  a  path 
lying  alongside  the  main  road  to  the  castle  ? 

The  sound  of  the  horse's  hoofs,  at  first  faint,  had  grown 
louder,  and  then  suddenly  ceased.  In  its  place  I  now  dis- 
tinctly heard  the  steps  of  a  man  coming  through  the  woods 
towards  the  place  where  I  was  standing,  a  little  out  of  the 
path,  in  the  dark  shadow  of  some  high  trees.  It  could  be 
no  one  but  he.  My  heart,  that  was  violently  beating,  cried  to 
me  that  it  could  be  no  one  but  he.  I  tore  the  gun  from  my 
shoulder,  as  Herr  von  Zehren  had  done  at  the  sight  of  the 
man  he  hated.  Then,  as  he  had  done,  I  threw  it  back  over 
my  shoulder,  so  that  I  had  both  arms  free.  What  did  I 
need  for  such  a  fellow  but  those  two  arms  of  mine  ? 

And  just  then  I  saw  him  plainly  before  me,  as  the  moon 
slipped  from  behind  a  black  cloud,  and  threw  through  the 
trees  a  clear  light  exactly  upon  the  place  where  he  was  pass- 
ing: the  same  slender  form,  and  even  in  the  same  riding- 
dress — a  low-crowned  hat,  close-fitting  coat,  trimmed  with 
fur,  and  boots  of  soft  leather  reaching  half-way  up  the  thigh 
— one  bound,  one  clutch — I  had  him  in  my  hands  ! 


Hatntner  and  Anvil. 


119 


The  surprise  must  have  paralyzed  him  at  the  moment,  for 
he  uttered  no  cry,  and  scarcely  made  a  movement.  But  this 
was  only  for  a  moment,  and  then  with  an  exertion  of  strength 
for  which  I  had  not  given  him  credit,  he  strove  to  free  him- 
self from  my  grasp.  So  might  a  leopard,  caught  in  the  hun- 
ter's net,  struggle  frantically,  leap,  rend  with  his  claws,  and 
waste  his  strength  in  convulsive  efforts.  The  struggle  lasted 
perhaps  a  minute,  during  which  time  no  word  was  spoken  on 
either  side,  nor  was  any  sound  audible  but  our  panting.  At 
last  his  struggles  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  his  breath  began 
to  fail,  and  finally,  yielding,  he  panted : 

"  Let  me  go  !  " 

"  Not  so  soon  !  " 

"  In  my  breast  pocket  is  a  pocket-book,  with  probably  a 
hundred  thalers  in  it ;  take  them,  but  let  me  go  !  " 

"  Not  for  a  million  !  "  I  said,  forcing  him,  as  his  strength 
was  utterly  exhausted,  down  to  his  knees. 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  Do  you  mean  to  murder  me  ?  "  he 
panted. 

"  Only  to  give  you  a  lesson,"  I  said,  and  picked  up  his 
riding-whip,  which  had  fallen  while  we  were  struggling,  the 
silver  handle  of  which  caught  my  eye  as  it  glittered  in  the 
moonlight. 

"  For  Grod's  sake,  do  not  do  that,"  he  said,  grasping  con- 
vulsively the  hand  in  which  I  held  the  whip.  "  Kill  me  on 
the  spot ;  I  will  not  move  nor  utter  a  cry ;  but  do  not  strike 
me ! " 

Such  a  request  in  such  a  tone  could  not  fail  to  make  a 
powerful  impression  upon  a  heart  like  mine.  I  no  longer 
beheld  in  my  antagonist  the  enemy  of  the  Wild  Zehren — 
his  daughter's  lover.  I  saw  in  him  only  a  boy  who  was 
in  my  power,  and  who  would  rather  die  than  undergo  dis- 
grace. Involuntarily  the  hand  with  which  I  grasped  him 
by  the  breast  unclosed  ;  indeed  I  believe  I  lifted  him  to  his 
feet. 

Scarcely  did  he  feel  himself  free,  when  he  hastily  stepped 
back  a  few  paces,  and  in  a  tone  the  lightness  of  which  was 
in  strong  contrast  with  the  terror  he  had  fixst  felt,  said  : 

"  If  you  were  a  nobleman,  you  should  give  me  satisfaction  ; 
but  as  you  are  not,  I  warn  you  to  be  on  your  guard  :  I  do 
not  always  travel  without  arms." 


120  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

He  slightly  touched  his  hat,  turned  upon  his  heel,  and 
walked  back  by  the  way  he  had  come. 

I  stood  as  if  rooted  to  the  spot,  and  gazed  after  the  slen- 
der figure,  which  soon  vanished  in  the  dark  shadows  of  the 
forest.  I  knew  that  with  a  bound  or  two  I  could  overtake 
hira,  but  I  felt  not  the  slightest  impulse  to  attempt  it.  The 
young  prince  had  rightly  judged  the  young  plebeian.  I 
would  as  lief  have  hewn  off  my  hand  as  to  raise  it  again 
against  a  man  whom  I  had  in  a  manner  pardoned.  And 
then  I  thought  of  what  Granow  had  said,  that  were  he  the 
prince,  he  would  not  like  to  meet  Herr  von  Zehren,  and  how 
very  nearly  this  meeting  had  taken  place,  and  that  too  at  a 
noment  when  it  would  have  given  the  Wild  Zehren  delight 
to  shed  his  enemy's  blood,  and  his  own  afterwards. 

And  now  I  heard  a  slight  neigh,  and  then  the  gallop  of  a 
horse. 

"Thank  heaven  !  "  I  cried,  drawing  a  deep  breath,  "it  is 
better  so,  and  it  will  be  a  lesson  to  him." 

I  thought  no  more  of  the  buck.  I  scarcely  listened  when 
he  began  to  bellow,  at  no  great  distance  from  me.  I  hurried 
on  at  a  run  to  make  up  for  the  time  I  had  lost,  and  in  deep 
anxiety  lest  Herr  von  Zehren  should  have  heard  the  gallop 
of  the  horse,  for  it  was  not  possible  that  he  could  have  heard 
anything  that  had  happened  in  the  wood. 

But  my  anxiety  was  without  cause.  The  Wild  Zehren  was 
too  safely  plunged  in  reflections  over  his  misfortune  for  his 
senses  to  be  as  acute  as  they  usually  were.  He  did  not  even 
ask  me  about  the  buck  ;  and  I  was  glad  that  I  was  under  no 
necessity  of  speaking.  Thus  we  walked  silently  on  until 
we  reached  the  castle. 

In  the  hall  we  were  met  as  usual  by  the  sleepless  old 
Christian.  Letters  had  come  by  express  :  he  had  laid  them 
on  his  master's  writing-table. 

"  Come  in,"  said  Herr  von  Zehren,  "  while  I  see  what  they 
are  about." 

We  entered.  "  This  one  is  for  you,  and  so  is  this,"  he 
said,  handing  me  two  of  the  letters  from  the  table. 

The  first  letter  was  from  my  friend  Arthur.     It  read  : 

"  You  have  not  sent  me  the  money  I  asked  you  for  ;  but 
that  is  the  way  :  when  we  have  anything,  our  friends  may 
look  out  for  themselves.     I  only  write  to  you  now,  in  order 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  121 

through  you  to  entreat  my  uncle  to  do  something  to  help 
papa.  Our  afifiiirs  must  be  in  an  awful  state,  for  the  mer- 
chant G. — you  know  whom  I  mean — from  whom  I  borrowed 
twenty-five,  saw  papa  about  it  to-day,  and  I  did  not  get  the 
smallest  scolding.  Mamma  howls  all  day  long.  I  wish  I 
was  a  thousand  miles  away.  , 

"  P.  S. — Papa  has  just  come  from  Uncle  Commerzienrath 
with  a  terribly  long  face.  It  is  plain  that  the  old  Philistine 
will  do  nothing  for  us.  I  tell  you  Uncle  Malte  must  help 
us,  for  we  are  in  a  terrible  strait." 

The  second  letter  was  from  my  father. 

"  My  Son : — In  renouncing  your  filial  obedience  to  me, 
you  compelled  me  to  abandon  all  control  over  you.  I  have 
vowed  not  to  restore  you  to  your  place  as  my  son,  until  you 
acknowledge  your  misconduct  and  entreat  me  to  do  so  ;  and 
this  vow  I  will  keep.  To  the  choice  that  you  have  made  for 
yourself,  I  have  offered  no  opposition,  have  allowed  you  per- 
fect freedom  of  action,  for  which  you  have  always  hankered, 
and  am  resolved  to  do  this  for  the  future.  But  all  this  can- 
not prevent  me  from  wishing,  with  all  my  heart,  that  it  may 
be  well  with  you  in  the  path  that  you  have  chosen  for  yourself, 
though  I  doubt  it  much ;  nor  can  it  keep  me  from  warning 
you  where  warning  seems  necessary.  And  this  is  now  the 
case.  Things  have  reached  my  ears  concerning  Herr  von 
Zehren,  which  I  trust  in  heaven  may  be  founded  upon  error, 
but  which  are  of  such  a  nature  that  I  think  with  horror  of 
my  son  being  in  the  house  of  a  man  under  such  suspicions, 
even  if  false.  What  I  have  heard  I  cannot  reveal  to  you, 
as  the  information  has  reached  me  in  the  line  of  my  official 
duties. 

"  I  know  that  notwithstanding  your  disobedience,  you  are 
incapable  of  a  base  action,  and  that  therefore  you  are  so  far 
safe,  even  if  those  suspicions  are  true,  which  God  forbid. 
Still  I  entreat  you,  if  you  have  any  regard  left  for  my  peace, 
to  leave  the  house  of  Herr  von  Zehren  at  once.  I  add  what 
is  scarcely  necessary,  that  for  the  obedient  son  I  shall  be, 
what  I  have  always  been,  his  strict  but  just  father." 

I  had  read  this  letter  twice  through,  and  sat  still  gazing  at 
the  writing,  incapable  of  clear  reflection,  when  Herr  von 
Zehren  aroused  me  by  asking :  "  Well,  George,  and  what 
have  you  there  >.  "     I  handed  him  both  letters.     He   read 


4 


132  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

them,  paced  the  room  a  while,  and  then  stopping  before  me 
said  : 

"  And  what  do  you  propose  to  do  ?  " 

"  The  opportunity  is  a  good  one,"  he  went  on,  seeing  that 
I  hesitated  to  answer.  "  I  have  a  letter  from  the  steuerrath 
which  compels  me.to  start  for  the  town  within  the  hour.  I 
will  take  you  with  me  ;  it  is  now  twelve  o'clock,  and  in  three 
hours  we  can  be  there  ;  you  can  ring  up  the  old  gentleman ; 
sleep  an  hour  or  two  in  the  garret  of  which  you  have  so 
often  told  me ;  thank  God  to-morrow  morning  that  you  are 
clear  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  and — ^go  back  again  to  school." 

He  spoke  the  last  words  with  a  slight  contempt,  which 
galled  the  most  sensitive  part  in  the  heart  of  a  young  man, 
that  of  false  pride. 

"  I  will  go  with  you  wherever  you  go !  "  I  exclaimed, 
starting  up.  "  I  said  so  this  morning,  and  I  now  repeat  it. 
Tell  me  what  I  shall  do." 

Herr  von  Zehren  again  paced  the  room  for  a  few  moments, 
and  then  paused  before  me  and  said  in  an  agitated  voice : 

"  Remain  here — for  a  day  or  two  at  all  events,  until  I  re- 
turn.    You  will  do  me  a  service." 

I  looked  at  him  interrogatively. 

"  If  you  return  now  to-day,"  he  continued,  "  that  will  only 
have  the  effect  of  confirming  the  rumors  of  which  your  father 
writes.  The  rats  are  leaving  the  house,  they  will  say,  and 
justly.  And  just  now  it  is  of  importance  to  me  that  people 
shall  say  nothing,  that  as  little  attention  as  possible  shall  be 
directed  to  me.     Do  you  understand,  George  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  answered  ;  "  why  now  especially  ?  " 

I  looked  fixedly  at  him  ;  he  bore  the  scrutiny,  and  after  a 
while  answered,  speaking  slowly  and  in  a  low  voice  : 

"  Ask  no  further,  George.  Perhaps  I  would  tell  you  if  you 
could  help  me  ;  perhaps  I  would  not.  They  say  of  me  that 
I  use  men  and  then  throw  them  away  when  they  can  be  of 
no  further  service  to  me.  It  may  be  so  ;  I  do  not  know  that 
the  most  deserve  any  better  treatment.  With  you,  at  all 
events,  I  would  not  thus  deal,  for  I  like  you.  And  now  go 
to  bed,  and  let  the  Wild  Zehren  play  out  the  game.  Per- 
haps he  will  break  the  bank,  and  then  I  promise  you  it  will 
be  the  last  of  his  playing." 

At  this  moment  the  wagon  drove  up  ;  while  reading  my 


c 

4 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  123 

father's  letter,  I  had  not  heard  the  order  to  old  Christian  to 
have  the  horses  put  to.  Herr  von  Zehren  looked  through 
his  papers,  put  some  in  his  pocket,  and  locked  others  in  his 
cabinet.  Then  old  Christian  helped  him  on  with  his  furred 
cloak,  he  put  on  his  hat,  and  stepping  up  to  me,  offered  me 
his  hand. 

I  had  watched  all  his  movements  in  a  sort  of  stupefaction. 

"  And  I  cannot  help  you  ?  "  I  now  asked. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  or  only  by  waiting  quietly  here  until  I 
return.     Your  hand  is  cold  as  ice;  go  to  bed." 

I  accompanied  him  to  the  door.  His  hunting-wagon  was 
waiting,  and  long  Jock,  who  usually  filled  the  office  of  coach- 
man, was  on  the  front  seat. 

"  The  wagon  will  only  take  me  to  the  ferry,  and  then  re- 
turn," said  Herr  von  Zehren. 

"  And  Jock  ? "  I  asked  in  a  whisper. 

"  Goes  with  me." 

"  Take  me  in  his  place,"  I  asked,  imploringly. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  he  said,  with  his  foot  upon  the  step. 

"  I  entreat  you,"  I  urged,  holding  him  by  the  cloak. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  he  repeated.  "  We  have  not  a  minute  to 
spare.     Good-night !     Drive  on  !  " 

The  wagon  drove  off;  the  dogs  yelped  and  barked,  and 
then  all  was  still  again.  Old  Christian  hobbled  across  the 
yard  with  his  lantern,  and  vanished  into  one  of  the  old  build- 
ings. I  stood  alone  before  the  house,  under  the  trees,  in 
which  the  wind  roared.  The  rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents ; 
shivering  I  returned  to  the  house  and  carefully  secured  the 
door. 

The  light  was  still  burning  in  Herr  von  Zehren's  room. 
I  went  to  get  it  and  also  my  letters  that  were  lying  upon  his 
table.  As  I  took  them  I  espied  a  paper  on  the  floor,  and 
picked  it  up  to  see  what  it  was.  A  few  words  were  written 
upon  it,  and  I  had  read  them  before  I  thought  what  I  was 
doing.     The  words  were  these  : 

"  I  am  ruined  if  you  do  not  save  me.  G.  will  give  me  no 
more  time ;  St.  is  immovable  ;  the  draft  will  be  protested. 
I  put  myself  in  your  hands.  You  have  held  me  above  water 
too  long  to  let  me  drown  now.  The  moment,  too,  is  as  favora- 
ble as  possible  for  the  matter  you  know  of  I  can  and  will 
take  care  that  no  one  sees  our  cards.     But  whatever  is  done, 


124  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

must  be  done  at  once.  I  have  not  always  the  game  in  my 
hand.  Come  at  once,  I  adjure  you,  by  what  is  most  sacred 
to  you — by  our  ancient  name  !     Burn  this  at  once." 

The  paper  was  not  signed,  but  I  recognized  the  writing 
immediately.  I  had  seen  it  often  enough  in  the  documents 
on  my  father's  table,  and  I  could  at  once  have  affixed  the  sig- 
nature with  its  pretentious  flourish,  which  I  had  often  enough 
tried  to  imitate. 

This  paper  Herr  von  Zehren  must  have  dropped  while 
hastily  thrusting  it  with  the  others  into  his  pocket. 

I  looked  at  it  again,  and  was  once  more  trying  to  unriddle 
its  enigmatical  contents,  when  the  candle,  already  burned  to 
the  socket,  gave  signs  of  going  out.  "  Burn  this  at  once !  " — 
it  was  as  if  a  voice  had  uttered  this  command  close  to  my 
ear.  I  held  the  paper  in  the  flame  ;  it  blazed  up ;  the  candle 
went  out  at  the  same  moment ;  a  glowing  scrap  of  tinder 
fluttered  to  mv  feet,  and  then  all  around  me  was  thickest 
darkness. 

I  groped  my  way  from  the  room,  through  the  dining-room 
to  the  hall,  up  the  narrow  stairway  to  my  chamber,  and  after 
searching  in  vain  for  a  match,  threw  myself  dressed  upon 
my  bed. 

But  in  vain  did  I,  tossing  restlessly  upon  my  couch, 
endeavor  to  sleep.  Every  moment  I  started  up  in  terror, 
fancying  in  my  excitement  that  I  heard  a  voice  calling  for 
help,  or  a  step  hurrying  towards  my  door,  while  I  kept  rack- 
ing my  brain  in  the  vain  attempt  to  devise  some  plan  for  res- 
cuing the  two  so  dear  to  me  from  the  ruin  which  I  had  a 
presentiment  was  impending  over  them,  whose  coming  the 
elements  themselves  seemed  to  announce  in  thunder ;  and 
execrated  my  cowardice,  my  indecision,  my  helplessness. 

It  was  a  fearful  night.  I 

A  terrible  storm  had  arisen  ;  the  wind  raved  about  the  old 
pile,  which  shook  to  its  foundations.  The  tiles  came  clatter- 
ing down  from  the  roofs  ;  the  rusted  weather-cocks  groaned 
and  creaked ;  the  shutters  banged,  and  the  third  shutter  to 
the  right  made  frantic  efforts  now  or  never  to  get  loose  from 
the  single  hinge  by  which  it  had  hung  for  years.  The 
screech-owls  in  the  crevices  of  the  walls  hooted  dismally, 
and  the  dogs  howled,  while  the  gusts  of  wind  dashed  tor- 
rents of  rain  against  the  windows. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  125 

It  seemed  as  if  the  ancient  mansion  of  Zehrendorf  knew 
what  fate  was  awaiting  its  possessor  and  itself. 


M' 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

'Y  first  sensation,  as  I  awaked  late,  was  a  feeling  of 
thankfulness  that  it  was  day  ;  my  second  was  one 
of  shame  at  having  been  so  powerfully  affected  by 
the  terrors  of  the  night.  When  but  a  small  boy,  I  used  to 
think  that  I  cast  the  most  odious  reproach  upon  an  adversary 
when  I  termed  him  a  coward,  and  this  morning  I  felt  that 
the  same  stigma  might  be  justly  affixed  to  myself.     But  that 

I  comes,  I   said  to  myself  while  dressing,  from  not  looking 

^  things  in  the  face  and  telling  people  the  truth.     Why  did  I 

not  frankly  say  to  Herr  von  Zehren,  I  know  the  object  of 
your  journey  ?  He  would  then  have  taken  me  with  him,  and 
I  should  not  have  to  sit  here  like  a  child  that  is  kept  in  the 

j  house  when  it  rains. 

I  opened  a  window  and  looked  out,  in  a  gloomy  frame  of 
mind,  and  the  scene  that  met  my  eyes  was  far  from  cheerful. 
The  wind,  which  blew  from  the  west,  drove  swirling  masses  of 
'  ■    gray  mist  through  the  gigantic  trees,  which  tossed  their  mighty 

arms  about,  as  if  in  torment,  above  the  wide  lawn  which  had 
so  often  charmed  me  with  its  long  waving  grass,  and  which 
now  was  a  mere  morass.     A  flock  of  crows  flew  up  with 

j  harsh  cawings  into  the  stormy  air,  which  hurled  them  about 

f  I  at  its  pleasure.     At  this  moment  the  wind  flung  to  a  shutter 

with  so  much  violence  that  fragments  of  the  rotten  wood  flew 
about  my  head.  I  tore  away  from  the  hinge  what  was  left 
of  it,  and  threw  it  down.  "  I'll  not  be  troubled  by  you  to- 
night, at  all  events,"  I  said,  fastening  the  window  again,  and 
then  I  determined  to  take  the  rest  in  hand.  Leaving  my 
own  room,  I  made  the  round  of  the  upper  story.  As  I 
opened  the  door  of  the  room  where  the  pile  of  books  lay,  a 
dozen  rats  sprang  down  from  the  window-sills  and  dived  into 
their  hiding-places.  The  rain  had  driven  in  through  some 
broken  panes,  and  the  gray  rascals  had  been  enjoying  the 


126  Hammer  and  Anvil.  -        j 

welcome  refreshment.  "  You  have  not  quitted  the  house  yet, 
it  seems,"  I  said,  recalling  Herr  von  Zehren's  words ; 
"  should  I  be  more  cowardly  than  you,  you  thievish  crew  ? " 

I  climbed  over  the  pile  of  books  to  the  nearest  door,  and 
wandered  through  the  empty  rooms,  securing  all  the  shutters 
that  had  any  fastenings  left,  and  lifting  from  their  hinges 
and  throwing  down  those  that  were  past  securing.  The  one 
belonging  to  the  third  window,  which  had  been  the  principal 
object  of  my  expedition,  had  terminated  its  afflicted  exist- 
ence in  the  night. 

On  my  way  back  I  entered  the  hall  with  the  great  stair- 
case, where  in  the  dim  light  that  fell  through  the  dull  panes 
covered  with  dust  and  cobwebs,  it  looked  more  ghostly  than 
ever.  A  suit  of  armor  which  was  fastened  to  the  wall  at 
some  height  from  the  floor,  it  required  no  great  stretch  of 
fancy  to  turn  into  the  corpse  of  a  hanged  man.  I  wondered 
if  it  was  the  armor  of  that  Malte  von  Zehren  whose  name, 
in  default  of  himself,  the  honest  burghers  of  my  native  town 
had  affixed  to  their  gallows. 

I  do  not  know  what  put  it  into  my  head  to  descend  the 
staircase  and  wander  about  the  narrow  passages  of  the  lower 
story.  My  footsteps  sounded  eerily  hollow  in  the  vacant 
corridors;  and  the  chilly  damp  from  the  bare  walls,  like 
those  of  a  vault,  seemed  to  strike  doubly  cold  to  my  fever- 
ish frame.  Perhaps  I  had  an  idea  of  punishing  myself  for  my 
terrors  of  the  past  night,  and  of  demonstrating  to  myself  the 
childishness  of  my  apprehensions.  Still  it  was  not  without 
a  start  and  a  decidedly  uncomfortable  feeling  that  I  sud- 
denly came  upon  an  opening  in  rhe  wall  at  a  spot  which  I 
had  often  before  passed  without  perceiving  any  sign  of  a 
door,  through  which  opening  I  caught  sight  of  a  yawning 
black  chasm,  at  the  bottom  of  which  a  faint  glimmer  of  light 
was  perceptible.  Peering  more  closely  into  it,  I  could  make 
out  the  commencement  of  a  flight  of  steps.  Without  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation  I  began,  at  peril  of  my  neck,  to  descend  a 
narrow  and  very  steep  stair,  slowly  groping  my  way  with 
both  hands  touching  the  wall  on  each  side  of  me,  until  the 
faint  glimmer  at  the  bottom  suddenly  disappeared.  As  I 
reached  the  floor  of  the  cellar  it  became  visible  again,  but 
not  now  an  uncertain  glimmer,  but  a  distinct  light  moving 
about  a  short  distance  from  me,  and  apparently  proceeding 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  127 

from  a  lantern  in  the  hand  of  a  man  who  was  exploring  the 
cellar.  As  I  moved  faster  than  the  man,  whose  shuffling 
footsteps  probably  covered  the  sound  of  mine,  I  speedily 
overtook  him,  and  laid  my  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of — old 
Christian,  for  he  it  was.  He  stopped  with  a  half  cry,  luckily 
without  dropping  his  lantern,  and  looked  round  at  me  with 
the  utmost  terror  in  his  old  wrinkled  face. 

"  What  are  you  doing  here.  Christian  ?  "  I  asked. 

He  still  stared  at  me  in  silence.  "  You  need  not  be  afraid 
of  me,"  I  said :  "  you  know  I  am  your  friend." 

"It  is  not  for  myself,"  the  old  man  answered  at  last.  "  I 
dare  not  bring  any  one  down  here ;  he  would  kill  me." 

"  You  did  not  bring  me  down  here,"  I  said. 

Christian,  whose  feeble  old  limbs  were  yet  trembling  from 
his  first  fright,  now  sat  down  upon  a  chest,  and  placed  the 
lantern  by  him.  While  he  was  recovering  himself,  I  took  a 
survey  of  the  cellar.  It  had  a  low  vaulted  ceiling,  supported 
at  various  points  by  strong  columns,  and  was  evidently  of 
considerable  extent,  though  how  considerable  I  could  not 
determine,  as  the  extremities  were  lost  in  darkness. 

Against  one  of  these  columns  not  far  off  stood  a  desk  with 
a  great  lantern  over  it,  and  on  the  desk  lay  a  large  thick  book, 
like  a  merchant's  "blotter."  Near  this  were  chests  of  tea, 
with  Chinese  figures  marked  on  them — evidently  original 
packages — piled  up  to  a  great  height,  and  everywhere  that 
I  looked  were  empty  boxes  and  casks,  piled  in  a  certain 
business-like  order.  Many  a  year  must  have  passed  ere  all 
these  boxes  were  emptied  and  all  these  casks  drained ; 
many  a  dollar  must  have  been  lost  and  won  in  the  process, 
and  many  a  human  life  must  have  been  risked,  and  proba- 
bly lost  too.  At  that  time  not  a  year  passed  that  the  smug- 
gling in  this  region  by  land  and  water  did  not  cost  more 
than  one  life  ;  and  how  many  did  it  cost  whose  loss  was  not 
known  ?  Peter,  for  instance,  who  was  shot  by  the  coast- 
guard in  the  woods,  and  dragged  himself,  mortally  wounded, 
to  his  hut ;  or  Claas,  who,  flying  hastily  across  the  morass, 
missed  his  footing  and  sank ;  whose  kindred  found  it  pru- 
dent to  say  as  little  about  the  matter  as  possible. 

Many  things  of  this  sort  I  had  heard  from  my  father  and  his 
colleagues,  and  they  recurred  to  my  mind  as  I  looked  around 
this  vast  cellar,  which  wore  in  the  pale  light  from  the  old 


128  Hammer  and  Aimil. 

man's  lantern  much  the  appearance  of  a  gigantic  church- 
vault,  in  which  mouldering  coffins  that  had  done  their  ser- 
vice were  piled  up  around,  and  the  damp  chilly  vapor  in 
which  might  be  fancied  to  proceed  from  fresh  graves  dug  in 
lightless  space  beyond  the  columns. 

This  then  was  the  foundation  of  the  house  of  the  Von 
Zehrens.  That  high-born  race  had  dwelt  over  this  vault, 
and  lived  upon  these  heaps  of  decay.  No  wonder  the  fields 
lay  fallow,  and  the  barns  were  tumbling  to  ruin.  Here  was 
the  sowing  and  the  harvest — an  evil  sowing,  which  could 
bring  no  other  than  an  evil  harvest. 

I  will  not  maintain  that  precisely  these  thoughts  passed 
through  my  mind  in  precisely  this  order,  while  I  stood  by 
the  old  man  and  let  my  gaze  wander  through  the  recesses  of 
the  cellar.  I  only  know  that  my  old  feeling  of  horror  for 
that  traffic  into  whose  secret  adyta  I  had  penetrated,  returned 
upon  me  with  full  force,  and  with  the  clearly  defined  sensa- 
tion that  I  now  pertained  to  it  and  was  one  of  the  initiated, 
and  that  it  was  foolish  and  to  a  certain  extent  offensive  in 
the  old  man  to  wish  to  make  any  secret  to  me  of  matters 
and  relations  which  I  so  thoroughly  fathomed  and  so  well 
understood. 

"  Well,  Christian,"  said  I,  taking  a  seat  opposite  the  old 
man,  and  lighting  a  cigar  at  his  lantern  as  a  mark  of  my  per- 
fect composure,  "  what  will  we  get  this  time  ?  " 

"  Tea  or  silk,"  muttered  he  ;  "  if  it  were  wine,  brandy,  or 
salt,  he  would  have  ordered  the  wagons."   ' 

"  To  be  sure,  he  would  then  have  ordered  the  wagons,"  I 
repeated,  as  if  this  were  a  mere  matter  of  course.  "  And 
when  do  you  expect  him  back  .''  He  told  me  to-night  that 
he  could  not  possibly  determine." 

"  Most  likely  to-morrow ;  but  I  will  open  the  great  door 
anyhow,  as  we  cannot  be  certain." 

"  Of  course  we  cannot  be  certain,"  I  said.  The  old  man 
had  arisen  and  taken  up  his  lantern,  and  I  arose  also. 

We  kept  on,  and  came  into  another  space  filled  with  the 
scent  of  wine,  where  casks  were  piled  on  casks,  as  the  old 
man  showed  me  by  holding  up  his  lantern  as  high  as  he 
could  reach. 

"  This  all  lies  here  from  last  year,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,"  I   answered,  repeating  what   Granow  had  said  ; 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  129 

"  the  business  is  bad  just  now ;  the  people  in  Uselin  have 
grown  shy  since  so  many  have  taken  to  dabbling  in  it." 

The  old  man,  who  was  taciturnity  itself,  did  not  answer, 
but  it  seemed  that  I  had  attained  my  aim  of  gaining  his  con- 
fidence. He  nodded  and  muttered  an  assent  to  my  words, 
as  he  shuffled  along. 

The  cellar  seemed  to  have  no  end  ;  but  at  last  Christian 
stopped  and  placed  the  lantern  upon  the  ground.  Before 
us  was  a  broad  staircase,  above  which  was  an  apparatus  of 
strong  beams,  such  as  is  used  for  lowering  casks  and  heavy 
boxes.  The  staircase  was  closed  above  by  a  large  and  mas- 
sive trap-door,  covered  with  plates  of  iron,  and  secured  by 
immense  bolts.  These  the  old  man  pushed  back  with  my 
help. 

"  So,"  said  he,  "  now  they  can  come  whenever  they  please. 

"  Whenever  they  please,"  I  repeated. 

We  returned  silently  by  the  way  we  had  come,  and  ascended 
the  steep  stair  at  the  entrance.  The  old  man  pressed  a 
spring,  and  the  opening  in  the  wall  was  closed  by  a  sliding 
door  which  was  fitted  so  artistically,  and  was  so  exactly  of 
the  same  tint  of  dirty  gray,  that  none  but  one  of  the  initiated 
could  have  discovered  its  existence,  to  say  nothing  of  open- 
ing it. 

Old  Christian  extinguished  his  lantern,  and  went  before 
me  to  the  end  of  the  corridor,  after  which  we  separated  in 
the  smaller  court-yard.  He  passed  through  a  small  gate 
into  the  main  court ;  I  remained  behind  and  looked  cau- 
tiously around  to  see  if  any  one  was  observing  me  ;  but  there 
were  only  the  crows,  who,  perched  upon  one  of  the  low  roofs, 
with  heads  on  one  side,  were  scrutinizing  all  my  movements. 
This  little  court  had  looked  poorly  enough  in  the  sunshine, 
but  now  in  the  rain  its  appearance  was  inexpressibly  forlorn. 
The  buildings  huddled  together  as  if  trying  to  shelter  them- 
selves as  well  as  they  could  from  the  wind  and  the  rain,  and 
yet  seemed  every  moment  in  danger  of  tumbling  down  from 
sheer  dilapidation.  Who  would  look  here  for  the  entrance 
to  the  secret  cellar  ?  And  yet  here  somewhere  it  must  be. 
I  had  noticed  the  direction  and  extent  of  the  subterranean 
space,  for  I  wanted  to  know  all,  since  I  already  knew  so 
much.  I  wished  to  be  no  longer  kept  in  the  dark  as  to 
what  was  going  on  around  me. 

6*  .     :v.-.  -     ^   - 

'    ^'    -'■■:- 


130  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

My  conclusion  was  verified  :  in  the  miserable  old  servant's 
kitchen,  from  which  a  wide  door  led  to  the  inclosed  space 
with  the  heaps  of  refuse,  under  a  pile  of  old  barrels,  boards, 
half-rotten  straw,  heaped  together,  as  I  now  perceived,  with 
a  careful  imitation  of  carelessness,  I  detected  the  same  trap- 
door which  the  old  man  had  bolted  in  the  cellar.  Here 
upon  the  outside  it  was  secured  with  a  massive  iron  bar,  and 
a  lock,  the  key  of  which  doubtless  Herr  von  Zehren  carried 
about  him.  I  replaced  the  rubbish,  and  stole  away  as  fur- 
tively as  a  thief,  for  the  proverb  says  truly  that  "  the  con- 
cealer is  as  bad  as  the  stealer,"  not  only  before  the  law,  but 
even  more  surely  before  his  own  conscience. 

I  turned  into  the  park  and  strolled  about  the  walks.  A 
heavy  drizzle  was  still  falling,  but  the  fog  had  lifted  a  little, 
and  was  rolling  away  in  heavy  gray  masses  over  the  tops  of 
the  trees.  I  stood  at  the  stone  table  under  the  maple  whose 
spreading  boughs  afforded  me  some  shelter,  and  gazed  stead- 
fastly at  the  great  melancholy  house,  that  to-day,  since  it  had 
disclosed  to  me  its  secret,  wore  quite  another  look  in  my 
eyes.  Could  she  know  what  I  now  knew  ?  Impossible !  It 
was  a  thought  not  to  be  harbored  for  a  moment.  But  she  must 
learn  it  as  soon  as  possible — or  no  !  she  must  rather  leave 
this  place,  where  ruin  was  threatening  her.  Away — but 
whither  ?  to  whom .-'  with  whom  ?  What  a  wretched,  pitiful 
creature  was  I,  who  could  offer  her  nothing  but  this  heart 
that  beat  for  her,  these  arms  which  were  strong  enough  to 
bear  her  away  as  easily  as  a  child,  and  with  which  I  could 
do  nothing  but  fold  them  over  my  breast  in  impotent  despair. 
Happen  what  might,  she  must,  must  be  saved.  Her  father 
might  sacrifice  me  to  his  vengeance,  but  she  must  escape 
free  ! 

Some  one  came  from  the  terrace — it  was  old  Pahlen.  She 
appeared  to  be  looking  for  me,  for  she  beckoned  to  me  from 
a  distance  with  her  bony  hands,  while  her  gray  hair,  flying 
loose  in  the  wind  from  under  her  dirty  cap,  would  have  given 
her  to  any  one  else  the  appearance  of  the  witch  that  had 
brewed  the  bad  weather.  But  to  me  she  was  a  most  welcome 
apparition,  for  from  whom  could  she  come  but  from  her  ?  I 
ran  to  meet  her,  and  scarcely  gave  her  time  to  deliver  her 
message.  A  few  moments  later,  with  a  heart  beating  high, 
I  entered  Constance's  apartment  through  the  casement-door. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  131 

It  was  the  first,  and  was  to  be  the  last  time  that  I  entered 
it,  and  I  can  scarcely  give  an  accurate  description  of  its  ap- 
pearance. I  have  only  a  very  dim  recollection  of  large- 
leaved  plants,  an  open  piano,  music,  books,  articles  of  dress, 
all  scattered  about,  of  two  or  three  portraits  on  the  walls, 
and  that  the  entire  floor  was  covered  with  a  carpet.  This 
last  feature  particularly  struck  me.  Carpets  covering  an 
entire  room  were  a  rarity  at  that  time,  especially  in  the  good 
town  of  Uselin.  I  had  only  heard  of  such  luxury  by  report, 
and  I  hardly  knew  where  to  place  my  foot,  although  the  car- 
pet, I  believe,  was  extremely  threadbare,  and  in  places  even 
torn  and  worn  into  holes. 

But  these,  as  I  have  said,  are  but  dim  recollections,  from 
which  stands  out,  clearly  and  ineffaceably,  the  picture  of 
Constance.  She  sat  upon  a  divan  near  the  window,  and  at 
my  entrance  dropped  a  piece  of  embroidery  into  her  lap,  at 
the  same  time  extending  her  hand  with  her  peculiar  sweet 
melancholy  smile. 

"  You  are  not  angry  that  I  sent  for  you  ?  "  she  asked,  mo- 
tioning me  to  take  my  place  by  her  side — thereby  placing 
me  in  no  slight  embarrassment,  for  the  divan  was  low,  and 
my  boots  not  as  clean  as  a  young  man  could  wish  who  is  for 
the  first  time  received  in  a  carpeted  chamber  by  the  lady  of 
his  heart.  "  I  wished  to  make  a  request  of  you.  Pahlen, 
you  can  go  j  I  have  something  to  speak  of  with  Herr  George 
alone." 

The  old  woman  gave  me  one  of  her  suspicious  looks,  lin- 
gered, and  only  went  after  Constance  had  repeated  her  order 
in  a  sharper  tone. 
1 1  "  See,  this  is  the  reason  I  sent  for  you,"  Constance  began, 

with  a  gesture  of  the  hand  towards  the  door  by  which  the  old 
woman  had  departed.  "  I  know  how  good  you  are,  and  how 
true  a  friend  to  me ;  since  yesterday  I  have  new  proof  of  it, 
though  for  a  while  I  was  weak  enough  to  hold  you  no  better 
than  the  others.  But  these  others !  They  do  not  know, 
and  cannot,  and  must  not  know.  Such  treasures  must  be 
kept  secret ;  they  are  too  precious  for  the  coarse  world.  Do 
you  not  think  so  ?  " 

As  I  had  no  idea  on  what  it  was  that  she  desired  my 
opinion,  I  contented  myself  with  fixing  my  eyes  upon  her 
with  a  look  of  respectful  inquiry.     She  dropped  her  eyes 


•I 


132  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

again  to  her  work,  and  continued  in  a  voice  not  quite  so 
steady  :  *'  My  father  has  gone  away,  I  am  told  ;  do  you  know 
whither,  and  for  how  long  a  time  ?  But  even  if  he  had  told 
you,  it  would  make  no  difference ;  my  father  is  not  accus- 
tomed to  bind  himself  by  any  such  announcements.  He  will 
go  for  a  stay  of  three  weeks  and  be  back  in  three  days  ;  he 
will  start  to  be  gone  three  days,  and  I  will  look  for  him  in 
vain  for  as  many  weeks.  There  is  no  probability  that  he 
will  this  time  make  any  exception  to  his  rule  ;  and  whether  he 
really  makes  a  long  or  short  stay,  we  must  take  measures 
accordingly.  It  is  not  cheerful  to  be  all  alone  in  this  deso- 
late and  comfortless  house,  especially  when  there  is  such  a 
terrible  storm  as  there  was  last  night.  It  is  so  pleasant  to 
know  that  there  is  some  one  near  at  hand  in  whose  faith  and 
strong  arm — they  say  you  are  so  very  strong,  George — we 
can  always  trust ;  but  still,  so  it  must  be.  You  feel  that  as 
well  as  I  do,  do  you  not,  George .'"'  i 

This  time  I  knew  what  she  meant :  I  must  go  away  from 
here,  must  leave  her  alone,  just  now,  at  the  very  time  when 
I  was  tormenting  myself  to  devise  some  plan  to  get  her 
away  ;  at  the  very  time  when  my  mind,  not  yet  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  the  terrible  night  and  the  adventures  of 
the  morning,  was  filled  with  a  gloomy  presentiment  that 
calamity  was  impending  over  both  the  house  and  its  inhabi- 
tants. I  neither  knew  how  nor  what  to  answer,  and  looked 
at  Constance  in  helpless  confusion. 

"  You  think  it  very  unfriendly,  very  inhospitable  of  me," 
she  said,  after  a  pause,  as  if  awaiting  my  answer ;  "  it 
would  be  both  more  hospitable  and  more  friendly  if  I  my- 
self went  away  for  the  time  to  visit  some  female  friend  ;  and 
I  admit  that  any  other  lady  would  do  so ;  but  I  am  so  poor 
as  to  have  no  female  friend.  My  father  has  taken  good  care 
of  that.  So  long  as  you  have  been  here,  has  a  solitary  lady 
entered  this  house .''  Have  you  ever  heard  me  speak  of  a 
friend,  of  an  acquaintance  of  my  own  sex  ?  '  Constance  von 
Zehren  only  associates  with  men  ; '  that  is  the  way  I  am 
spoken  of ;  but  heaven  knows  how  entirely  without  fault  of 
mine.  Do  you  wish,  my  good  faithful  George,  to  give  evil 
tongues  the  opportunity  to  make  my  reputation  worse  than 
it  already  is  ?  Or  do  you  think,  with  the  others,  that  it  can- 
not be  worse  ?     No  ;  sit  still.     Why  should  not  friends,  as 


■iSviii-',- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  133 

we  are,  speak  calmly  of  such  things,  and  calmly  consider 
what  is  to  be  done  on  such  an  occasion  ?  Now,  what  I  have 
thought,  is  this :  You  have  friends.  There  is  Herr  von 
Granow,  who  regularly  pays  court  to  you  ;  there  is  Herr  von 
Trantow,  our  good  neighbor,  who  would  be  so  glad  to  have 
you  with  him  for  a  few  days.  And  then  you  are  quite  near 
me  ;  I  can  send  for  you  if  I  want  you  ;  and  you  know  that 
if  ever  I  need  a  friend  I  will  turn  to  no  one  sooner  that  to 
the  only  friend  I  have." 

She  offered  me  her  hand  with  an  enchanting  smile,  as  if 
to  say  :  "  So  that  matter  is  settled,  is  it  not .''  " 

Her  smile  and  the  touch  of  her  dear  hand  completed  the 
confusion  into  which  her  words  had  thrown  me  ;  but  I  col- 
lected myself  with  a  desperate  effort  and  stammered  : 

"  I  do  not  know  what  you  will  think  of  me  for  allowing 
you  to  speak  so  long  on  a  subject  which  of  course  I  could 
not  but  understand  at  once  ;  but  I  cannot  tell  you  how  hard 
it  is  for  me  just  now  to  go  away  from  you — to  leave  you  just 
now.  Herr  von  Zehern  expressly  charged  me  to  remain 
here  and  wait  his  return,  which  would  happen  in  a  few  days, 
perhaps  to-morrow.  He  no  doubt  did  that — even  though 
he  did  not  say  as  much — with  the  best  intentions  ;  that  you 
might  have  some  one  near  you,  and  might  not  be  left  alone 
in  the  desolate  old  house  ;  that " 

I  did  not  know  how  to  continue,  Constance  fixed  her  eyes 
upon  me  with  so  peculiar  an  expression,  and  my  talent  for 
fiction  having  always  been  of  the  poorest. 

"My  father  has  never  shown  this  tender  consideration 
before,"  she  said.  "  Perhaps  he  thinks  that  the  older  I 
grow,  the  more  I  need  watching.  You  understand  me.  Or 
can  you  have  forgotten  our  discourse  of  yesterday?  " 

"  I  have  not  forgotten  it,"  I  cried,  springing  hastily  from 
the  divan.  "  I  will  not  again  become  an  object  of  your  sus: 
picion.  I  now  leave  you,  and  forever,  if  you  wish  it ;  but 
others  who  are  assuredly  no  worthier  than  I,  shall  not  enjoy 
an  advantage  over  me ;  and  if  they  still  venture  to  thrust 
themselves  into  your  neighborhood,  or  lurk  around  like  a  fox 
around  a  dove-cot,  they  do  it  at  their  own  peril.  I  shall  not 
be  so  considerate  as  I  was  that  evening." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  Of  whom  are  you  speaking  ?  " 
exclaimed  Constance,  who  had  also  arisen  at  my  last  words. 


134  Ha7n7ncr  and  Anvil.  ' 

She  had  turned  quite  pale,  and  her  features  had  assumed  a 
new  expression. 

"  Of  wliom  am  I  speaking  ?  "  I  said  ;  "  of  him  who,  on 
that  evening  when  I  kept  watch  at  your  window,  ran  from 
me  Uke  a  craven  ;  and  who  kist  night,  as  I  was  coming  with 
your  father  from  Trantowitz,  and  took  the  way  through  the 
woods  alone,  tried  to  conceal  himself  under  the  trees  ;  whom 
I  spared  out  of  pity,  for  I  knew  that  had  I  betrayed  the  piti- 
ful wretch,  Herr  von  Zehren  would  have  shot  him  dead  like 
a  dog.  Let  him  take  care  I  do  not  meet  him  again  in  the 
night  or  by  day  either  :  he  will  see  how  much  I  respect  his 
princeship  !  " 

Constance  had  turned  away  while  I  thus  gave  vent  in 
anger  to  the  despair  I  felt  at  leaving  the  beloved  maiden  for- 
ever. Suddenly  she  turned  her  pale  face  again  upon  me, 
with  eyes  flashing  with  a  strange  light,  and  exclaimed,  hold- 
ing out  her  hands  as  if  in  supplication : 

"  That  I  should  hear  this  from  you ! — from  you  !  How 
can  I  help  it  if  that  man — supposing  you  were  not  mistaken, 
which  yet  is  quite  possible — is  driven  restlessly  about  by  his 
evil  conscience  ?  It  is  unhappy  enough  for  him,  if  it  be  so  ; 
but  how  does  that  concern  me  1  And  how  can  any  danger 
from  that  quarter  threaten  me  .?  And  were  he  now — or  at 
any  time  and  anywhere — to  come  before  me,  what  would  I, 
what  could  I  say,  but  '  We  can  be  nothing  to  each  other,  you 
and  I,  now  nor  at  any  future  time.'  I  thought,  George,  you 
knew  all  this  without  my  telling  you.  How  can  I  wonder  that 
the  others  so  misjudge  me,  when  your  judgment  of  me  is  so 
false,  so  cruelly  false  ?  " 

She  resumed  her  seat  upon  the  divan  and  buried  her  face 
in  her  hands.  I  lost  all  control  of  myself,  paced  the  room 
in  agitation,  and  finally,  seeing  her  bosom  heaving  with  her 
emotion,  threw  myself  in  despair  at  her  feet. 

"  My  dear,  good  George,"  she  said,  laying  her  hands  on  my 
shoulders.  "  I  know  well  that  you  love  me  ;  and  I,  too,  am 
very  fond  of  you." 

The  tears  rolled  down  my  cheeks.  I  hid  my  face  in  her 
dress,  and  covered  her  hands  with  kisses. 

"  Stand  up,  George,"  she  whispered,  "  I  hear  old  Pahlen 
coming." 

I  sprang  up.     In  truth  the  door  opened  slowly — I  think  it 


Hamtner  and  Anvil.  135 

had  never  been  entirely  closed — and  the  ugly  old  woman 
looked  in  and  asked  if  she  had  been  called. 

Yes,  she  had  been  called.  Herr  George,  who  was  going  to 
visit  Herr  von  Trantow  for  a  day  or  two,  had  probably  some 
orders  to  give. 

"  Farewell,"  she  said,  turning  to  me,  "  farewell,  then,  for  a 
few  days."  And  then  bringing  her  face  nearer  to  mine,  and 
sending  me  a  kiss  by  the  movement  of  her  lips,  she  softly 
whispered,  "  Farewell,  beloved." 

I  was  standing  outside  the  house ;  the  rain,  that  had 
re-commenced,  was  beating  into  my  burning  face  ;  I  did  not 
feel  it.  Rain  and  storm,  driving  clouds  and  roaring  trees, 
how  lovely  it  all  was  !  How  could  it  be  possible  that  the 
world  should  be  so  fair — that  mortal  could  be  so  happy — 
that  she  loved  me  ! 

When  I  reached  my  own  room,  I  gave  vent  to  my  rapture 
in  a  thousand  idiotic  ways.  I  danced  and  sang,  I  threw  my- 
self into  the  old  high-backed  chair  and  wept,  then  sprang  up 
again,  and  at  last  remembered  that  I  had  all  that  I  should 
need  for  a  stay  of  but  a  day  or  two,  ready  packed  in  my 
game-bag,  and  that  she  would  expect  that  her  orders  would 
be  promptly  obeyed.     Yes  ;  now — now  I  was  ready  to  go. 

And  throwing  my  gun  over  my  shoulder,  and  calling  my 
dog  Caro,  who  lay  moping  under  the  table,  I  left  the  castle. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

STRIDING  along  the  road  to  Trantowitz,  under  the  rustl- 
ing willows,  scarcely  seeing  the  way  before  me  in  my 
excitement,  I  several  times  barely  escaped  falling  from 
the  slippery  path  into  the  deep  ditch  in  which  the  rain-water 
was  now  running  in  a  torrent.  More  than  once  I  stopped  to 
look  back  to  the  castle  where  she  was.  Caro,  who  was 
moodily  trotting  after  me,  also  stopped  on  these  occasions  and 
looked  at  me.  I  told  him  that  she  loved  me,  that  wc  were 
all  going  to  be  happy,  that  all  would  turn  out  well,  and  that 
when  I  was  a  great  man  I  would  lead  a  joyous  life,  and  would 


136  Hammer  and  Anvil.  I 

take  good  care  of  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  Caro  gave  me  to 
understand,  by  a  slight  wag  of  his  tail,  that  he  was  fully  satis- 
fied of  my  good  intentions,  and  even  to  a  certain  extent  moved  ; 
but  his  brown  eyes  looked  very  melancholy,  as  if  on  so  dis- 
mal a  day  he  could  not  form  a  very  clear  picture  of  a  joyous 
future.  "  You  are  a  stupid  brute,  Caro,"  I  said  ;  "  a  good, 
stupid  brute  ;  and  you  have  no  notion  of  what  has  happened 
to  me."  Caro  made  a  desperate  attempt  to  look  at  the  mat- 
ter from  its  brightest  side,  wagging  his  tail  more  violently, 
and  showing  his  white  teeth ;  then  suddenly,  as  if  to  show 
that  his  well-trained  mind,  usually  occupied  with  hunting 
matters  alone,  felt  this  to  be  a  day  when  all  discipline  was 
relaxed,  ran,  furiously  barking,  at  a  man  who  was  just  ap- 
proaching around  a  plantation  of  willows  on  the  left  of  the 
road. 

It  was  a  man  who  had  partly  the  appearance  of  a  sailor, 
and  partly  that  of  a  working-man  of  the  town,  and  whose 
innocent  broad  face  beamed  with  so  friendly  a  smile  as  he 
caught  sight  of  me,  that  Caro  became  at  once  conscious  of 
the  impropriety  of  his  behavior,  and  came  to  heel  ashamed, 
with  drooping  ears,  while  I,  who  had  recognized  the  trav- 
eller, hastened  towards  him  with  extended  hand. 

"  Why,  Klaus,  what  in  the  name  of  wonder  brings  you 
here  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  thought  I  should  surprise  you,"  answered  Klaus, 
giving  me  a  cordial  grasp  of  his  great  hard  hand,  and  show- 
ing, as  Caro  had  before  done,  two  rows  of  teeth  which  ri- 
valled the  dog's  in  whiteness. 

"  Were  you  coming  to  see  me  ?  "  I  asked.  | 

"Of  course  I  was  coming  to  see  you,"  Klaus  answered. 
"  I  arrived  in  the  cutter  an  hour  ago.  Christel  is  with  me. 
Our  old  grandmother  is  dead  ;  we  buried  her  yesterday 
morning.  She  has  gone  to  a  better  place,  I  hope.  She  was 
a  good  old  woman,  although  she  had  grown  very  infirm  of 
late,  and  gave  poor  Christel  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  But 
that  is  all  over  now.  What  I  was  going  to  say  is  this :  my 
father  has  been  so  good  as  to  bring  me  over  here  himself, 
and  Christel  is  with  me  too  ;  she  has  come  with  me  to  Zano- 
witz  to  take  leave  of  Aunt  Julchen  [Julie],  father's  sister, 
you  know.     My  father  is  from  Zanowitz,  you  know." 

"  To  be  sure,"  I  said. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  137 

"  You  have  been  there  once  or  twice  yourself,"  Klaus  went 
on.  "  Aunt  Julchen  always  saw  you,  but  you  never  took 
notice  of  her.  I  suppose  you  did  not  recollect  her  ;  she  used 
often  to  come  to  my  father's.  And  then  you  have  become 
such  a  great  man  now" — and  the  honest  fellow's  admiring 
looks  wandered  over  my  hunting-dress,  my  high  boots,  and 
Caro,  who  pretended  not  to  hear  a  word  of  this  conversation, 
and  with  pricked-up  ears  was  staring  into  the  ditch  as  if  he 
had  never  seen  a  water-rat  dart  into  its  hole  before  in  all  the 
days  of  his  life. 

"  Never  mind  about  that,  Klaus,"  I  said,  shifting  the  sling 
of  my  gun  a  little  higher  on  the  shoulder.  "  So  you  are 
going  away  ?     And  where  are  you  going,  then  ?  " 

"  I  have  got  a  place  as  locksmith  in  the  machine-shops  of 
the  Herr  Commerzienrath  at  Berlin,"  said  Klaus.  "  Herr 
Schultz,  the  engineer  on  the  Penguin^  you  know,  has  given 
me  a  first-rate  recommendation,  and  I  hope  to  do  no  dis- 
credit to  it." 

"  That  I  am  sure  you  will  not,"  I  said  in  a  cordial,  friendly, 
but  rather  patronizing  tone,  while  I  considered  with  some 
embarrassment  what  I  should  do.  Here  was  Klaus  had 
come  to  see  me,  and  I  could  not  keep  him  standing  in  the 
open  road,  under  the  dripping  willow.  How  the  good  fellow 
would  have  stared  if  I  had  taken  him  into  my  poetical  room ! 
— ^but  that  was  not  possible  now.  My  embarrassment  was 
increasing,  and  it  was  a  great  relief  when  Klaus,  taking  both 
my  hands,  said  : 

"  And  now,  good-by  ;  I  must  go  back  to  Zanowitz.  Karl 
Peters,  who  has  been  loading  corn  for  the  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath, sails  in  half  an  hour,  and  takes  me  with  him.  I  would 
have  liked  to  stay  a  little  while  with  you,  but  you  have  some- 
thing else  on  hand,  and  so  I  will  not  keep  you  any  longer." 

"  I  have  nothing  whatever  on  hand,  Klaus,"  I  answered, 
"  and  if  you  have  no  objection  I  will  go  with  you  to  Zano- 
witz, and  take  the  opportunity  to  say  good-day  to  Christel. 
When  is  the  wedding  to  be,  Klaus  ?  " 

Klaus  shook  his  head  as  we  walked  on  together.  "  The 
prospect  is  but  a  poor  one,"  he  said.  "  We  are  too  young 
yet,  the  old  man  thinks,  although  the  proverb  says  :  '  Early 
wooed  was  never  rued.'     Don't  you  think  so.'' " 

"  Decidedly  I  do  !  "  I  cried,  with  an  earnestness  that  ex- 


138  Ham7ner  and  Anvil.  ! 

tremely  delighted  Klaus  ;  "  I  am  two  years  younger  than 
you,  I  believe,  but  1  can  tell  you  this  :  I  would  marry,  if  I 
could,  upon  the  spot ;  but  it  all  depends  upon  the  circum- 
stances, Klaus,  upon  the  circumstances." 

"Yes,  of  course  ; ''  answered  he,  with  a  sigh;  "  I  could 
very  well  support  her  now,  for  I  shall  work  upon  a  fixed 
contract,  and  can  do  well  if  I  please,  and  Christel  would  not 
sit  with  her  hands  in  her  lap  ;  but  what  good  is  all  that  if 
the  old  man  will  not  consent  ?  He  is  Christel's  guardian, 
and  she  owes  him  everything,  even  her  life,  for  she  would 
have  perished  miserably  on  the  beach,  poor  little  creature, 
had  father  not  sent  mother  down  to  the  strand  to  gather 
drift-wood,  and  had  mother  not  found  her  there  and  brought 
her  home.  And  vou  see  all  this  has  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
count  ;  and  although  he  is  not  at  all  kind  to  her,  and  I  can- 
not tell  why  he  has  treated  me  so  badly  all  these  years,  yet 
still  it  is  written  :  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother.  And 
as  I  have  no  mother  any  more,  I  must  honor  my  father 
doubly.     Don't  you  think  so  ?  " 

I  did  not  answer  him  this  time.  In  my  coat-pocket  lay 
the  letter  of  my  father,  in  which  he  commanded  me  to  leave 
Herr  von  Zehren  at  once  and  return  home.  I  had  not 
obeyed  his  orders,  because  I  could  not  leave  until  Herr  von 
Zehren's  return  ;  but  now  I  could  go — oh  yes,  I  could  go 
now !  I  cast  a  glance  back  at  the  castle,  which  loomed 
darkly  through  its  dark  masses  of  trees,  over  the  heath,  and 
sighed  deeply. 

Klaus  crossed  the  wet  road  to  my  side,  and  said  to  me  in 
a  low  mysterious  tone,  although  over  the  whole  heath,  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  there  was  no  human  being  in 
sight : 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  ;  I  did  not  mean  to  hurt  your  feel- 
ings." 

"  That  I  am  sure  of,  Klaus,"  I  answered. 

"  For  you  see,"  he  continued,  "  I  know  that  you  and  your 
father  are  not  on  good  terms,  but  he  is  such  an  excellent 
man,  that  he  certainly  wishes  no  harm  to  any  human  crea- 
ture, and  least  of  all  to  his  own  son  ;  and  as  for  what  people 
say  about  you,  that  you  are  leading  so  wild  a  life  here,  and 
— and — I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it.  I  know  you  better.  Oh 
yes,  you  might  be  a  little  wild,  of  course,  you  always  were 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  139 

that ;   but  wicked  ?     God  forbid  !     I  would  sooner  believe 
them  if  they  said  I  was  wicked  myself" 

"  Do  they  say  that  of  me  ?  "  I  asked,  contemptuously. 
"  And  who  says  so,  then  ?  " 

Klaus  took  off  his  cap,  and  rubbed  his  sleek  hair. 

"  That  is  hard  to  say,"  he  answered,  with  some  hesitation. 
"  If  I  must  tell  you  hone.stly,  they  all  say  so,  my  Christel  of 
course  excepted,  who  is  your  fast  friend ;  but  the  rest  don't 
leave  a  good  hair  on  your  head." 

"  Out  with  it,"  I  said  ;  "  I  don't  care  for  it,  so  let  us  hear 
it  all." 

"  Well,  I  can't  tell  you,"  answered  Klaus. 

It  was  some  time  before  I  could  get  it  out  of  the  good 
fellow.     It  was  quite   terrible  for  him  to  be  compelled  to 
admit  that  in  my  native  town,  where  everybody  knew  every-  , 
body  else,  and  took  the  greatest  interest  in  his  fortunes,  I  / 
was  unanimously  considered  a  castaway.     The  firemen  on  ^ 
board  the  Penguin  had  spoken  of  it,  and  the  old  pensioned- 
ofif  captains    leaning   over   the   parapet   of   the   pier,   and 
meditatively  chewing  their  quids,  talked  the  matter  over. 
Wherever   Klaus,  whom  all   knew  to  be  a  great  friend  of 
mine,  came,  everybody  asked  him  if  he  had  not  heard  what 
had  become  of  George  Hartwig,  how  he  was  going  about  in 
the  very  worst  region  of  the  whole  island,  and  playing  the 
buffoon  for  noblemen  with  whom  he  was  leading  the  most 
shameless  life  ;   that  he  would  lose  more  money  in  gam- 
bling in  a  single  night,  than  his  poor  father  made  in  a  whole 
year,  and  heaven  only  knew  how  he  came  by  it.     But  the 
worst  of  all  was  something  which   Klaus  only  mentioned 
after  again  solemnly  assuring  me  that  he  did  not  believe  a 
word  of  it.     He  had  been  the  evening  before  to  take  leave 
of  Justizrath  Heckepfennig,  who  was  Christel's  godfather, 
and  at  whose  hoi>se  he  was  a  frequent  visitor.     The  family 
were  just  at  tea.    Elise  Kohl,  Emilie's  dearest  friend,  was 
there  too,  and  they  had  done  Klaus  the  honor  to  offer  him  a 
cup  of  tea,  after  he  had  said  that  next  day  he  was  going  to 
Zanowitz  and  meant  to  look  me  up.     The  justizrath  urgently 
dissuaded  him  from  doing  so,  adding  that  his  long-fixed  con- 
viction that  I  would  die  in  my  shoes,  had  recently  received 
a  confirmation,  which,  however,  he  was  not  free  to  disclose. 
That  then  the  girls  had  sat  in  judgment  upon  me,  and  de- 


140  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

cided  that  they  could  forgive  me  everything  else,  but  could 
never  forgive  me  for  being  the  lover  of  Fraulein  von  Zehren. 
They  had  heard  of  it  from  Arthur,  who  of  course  knew  ;  and 
Arthur  had  told  such  things  about  his  cousin  that  a  girl  of 
any  self-respect  could  hardly  listen  to  them,  and  which  it 
was  quite  impossible  to  repeat. 

Klaus  was  terrified  at  the  effect  which  his  account  pro- 
duced upon  me.  In  vain  did  he  repeat  that  he  did  not  be- 
lieve a  word  of  it,  and  had  told  the  girls  so  at  the  time.  I 
vowed  that  I  renounced  now  and  forever  so  faithless  and 
treacherous  a  friend,  and  that  I  would  sooner  or  later  be 
most  bitterly  avenged  upon  him.  I  gave  vent  to  the  most 
terrible  threats  and  maledictions.  Never  would  I  again, 
with  my  own  consent,  set  foot  in  my  native .  town  ;  I  would 
rather  cause  an  earthquake  to  swallow  it,  if  it  stood  in  my 
power.  Up  to  this  time  I  had  felt  twinges  of  conscience  as 
to  whether  I  had  not  acted  too  rashly  in  leaving  my  father 
for  so  trifling  a  cause  ;  but  now  should  my  father  a  hundred 
times  command  me  to  return,  I  would  not  do  it.  And  as 
for  Herr  von  Zehren  and  Fraulein  von  Zehren  I  valued  a 
hair  of  either  of  their  heads  more  than  the  whole  town  of 
Uselin,  and  I  was  ready  to  die  for  both  of  them  here  on  the 
spot  in  these  water-boots  of  mine,  and  the  devil  might  after- 
wards beat  the  boots  about  the  justizrath's  old  mop  of  a 
head. 

The  good  Klaus  was  stricken  dumb  with  horror  when  he 
heard  me  utter  these  frightful  imprecations.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  the  idea  struck  him  that  my  soul  was  in  a  more 
perilous  state  than  he  had  hitherto  supposed.  He  did  not 
say  this,  however,  but  presently  remarked,  in  his  simple  way, 
that  disobedience  to  a  father  was  a  very  serious  thing  ;  that 
I  well  knew  how  much  he  had  always  thought  of  me,  in  spite 
of  all  that  people  said,  and  that  he  had  always  been  disposed, 
and  was  still  disposed  to  agree  with  me  in  everything  ;  but 
that  here  I  was  clearly  in  the  wrong  ;  and  that  if  my  father 
had  really  ordered  me  to  return  home,  he  could  not  see,  for 
his  part,  what  should  prevent  me  from  obeying  him  ;  that  he 
must  confess  to  me  that  my  disobedience  to  my  father  had 
been  troubling  him  ever  since  he  heard  of  it,  and  that  he 
could  go  away  with  an  easier  mind,  now  that  he  had  frankly 
told  me  this. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  141 

I  made  him  no  answer,  and  Klaus  did  not  venture  to 
continue  a  conversation  that  had  taken  so  unpleasant  a  turn. 
He  walked  silently  by  my  side,  giving  me  a  sorrowful  look 
from  time  to  time,  like  Caro,  who  trotted  with  drooping  ears 
by  my  other  side  ;  for  the  rain  was  falling  still  more  heavily, 
and  my  aimless  wandering  in  such  weather  over  the  wet 
dunes,  was  a  mystery  to  Caro  which  grew  darker  the  more 
he  pondered  over  it. 

Thus  we  arrived  at  Zanowitz,  where  the  poor  mud-hovels 
were  scattered  about  over  the  undulating  sandy  dunes,  as  if 
they  were  playing  hide-and-seek.  Between  the  dunes  the 
open  sea  was  visible.  This  had  always  been  a  sight  that  I 
loved,  when  the  sun  shone  brightly  on  the  white  sand  and  the 
blue  water,  and  the  white  gulls  wheeled  in  joyous  circles 
over  the  calm  sea.  But  now  all  was  of  a  uniform  gray, 
the  sand,  and  the  sky,  and  the  sea  that  came  rolling  in  in 
heavy  waves.  Even  the  gulls,  sweeping  with  harsh  cries 
over  the  stormy  waters,  seemed  gray  like  the  rest.  It  was  a 
dreary  picture,  the  coloring  of  which  harmonized  with  the 
frame  of  mind  in  which  my  conversation  with  Klaus  had 
left  me. 

"  I  see  Peters  is  getting  ready  to  sail,"  said  Klaus,  point- 
ing to  one  of  the  larger  vessels  that  were  rocking  at  anchor 
a  short  distance  from  the  beach.  "  I  think  we  had  better  go 
down ;  father  and  Christel  will  be  down  there  waiting  for 
me." 

So  we  went  down  to  the  strand,  where  they  were  about 
pushing  off  one  of  the  numerous  smaller  boats  drawn  up 
upon  the  sand.  A  crowd  of  persons  were  standing  by,  and 
among  them  old  Pinnow,  Christel,  and  Klaus's  Aunt  Jul- 
chen,  a  well-to-do  fisherman's  widow,  whom  I  remembered 
very  well. 

Poor  Klaus  was  scarcely  allowed  a  minute  to  say  good-by. 
Skipper  Peters,  who  had  to  deliver  in  Uselin  the  same  day 
the  corn  he  had  shipped  for  the  commerzienrath's  account, 
swore  at  the  foolish  waste  of  time  ;  Pinnow  growled  that  the 
stupid  dolt  would  never  have  common  sense  ;  Christel  kept 
her  tearful  eyes  riveted  on  her  Klaus,  whom  she  was  to  lose 
for  so  long  a  time  ;  Aunt  Julchen  wiped  the  tears  and  the 
rain  from  her  good  fat  face  with  her  apron  ;  and  the  deaf 
and  dumb  apprentice  Jacob,  who  was  among  the  rest,  stared 


142  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

uninterruptedly  at  his  master  as  if  he  now  saw  his  red  nose 
and  blue  spectacles  for  the  first  time.  Klaus,  looking  very 
confused  and  very  unhappy,  said  not  a  single  word,  but  tak- 
ing in  his  left  hand  a  bundle  which  Christel  had  given  him, 
he  offered  his  right  to  each  in  turn,  and  then  springing  into 
the  boat,  seized  one  of  the  two  oars.  A  couple  of  fishermen 
waded  out  and  pushed  the  boat  off;  the  oars  were  laid  in 
the  rowlocks,  and  the  skiff  danced  over  the  waves  to  the 
cutter,  on  which  the  mainsail  was  already  hoisted. 

When  I  turned  again,  Christel  had  gone,  and  the  fat  aunt 
was  just  about  following  her.  The  poor  thing  no  doubt 
wished  to  shed  her  long  pent-up  tears  in  quiet,  and  I  thought 
that  I  should  be  doing  her  a  kindness  if  I  detained  her 
father  awhile  upon  the  beach.  But  Herr  Pinnow  was  in 
no  haste  to  leave,  as  it  seemed.  With  his  blue  spectacles 
over  his  eyes,  which  I  knew  to  be  sharp  as  a  hawk's,  he  gazed 
into  the  foaming  waters,  and  exchanged  with  the  Zanowitz 
sailors  and  fishermen  such  remarks  as  naturally  fall  from  old 
sea-rats  on  the  beach  watching  the  departure  of  a  vessel. 

These  were  in  truth  faces  by  no  means  adapted  to  inspire 
confidence,  these  high-boned,  lean,  weather-beaten,  sunburnt 
visages,  with  light-blue  blinking  eyes,  of  the  men  of  Zanowitz ; 
but  I  had  to  say  to  myself,  as  I  stood  by  and  observed  them 
one  by  one,  that  the  face  of  my  old  friend  was  the  most  un- 
prepossessing of  all.  The  wicked,  cruel  expression  of  his 
wide  mouth,  with  thick  close-shut  lips,  that  even  when  he 
spoke  scarcely  moved,  had  never  so  struck  me  before  ;  per- 
haps I  saw  him  to-day  with  different  eyes.  For  indeed, 
since  yesterday  evening,  the  suspicion  which  had  repeatedly 
entered  my  mind,  that  old  Pinnow  was  deeply  implicated  in 
Herr  von  Zehren's  hazardous  undertakings,  had  been  aroused 
anew.  In  fact  I  had  come  to  an  almost  positive  conclusion 
that  he  would  take  an  active  part  in  the  expedition  on  hand  ; 
and  I  had  been  much  surprised  to  hear  Klaus  say  that  his 
father  had  ferried  Christel  and  himself  over.  So,  whatever 
his  connection  with  Herr  von  Zehren  might  be,  he  was  not 
with  him  this  time,  and  that  fact  partially  relieved  my  un- 
easiness. 

The  smith  seemed  not  to  have  forgotten  our  quarrel  on 
that  evening.  He  steadily  pretended  not  to  see  me,  or  turned 
his  broad  back  upon  me  while  he  told  the  others  what  a 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  143 

quick  passage  he  had  made,  and  that  he  would  not  have  ven- 
tured out  in  such  weather,  and  with  his  weak  eyes  that  grew 
weaker  every  day,  had  not  Klaus  been  in  such  haste.  And 
even  though  it  should  blow  less  hard  this  evening,  he  would 
rather  not  take  back  Christel  with  him  ;  she  could  stay  at 
his  sister's,  and  in  her  place  he  would  take  some  active  young 
fellow  from  here  on  board  to  help  him,  for  ^s  for  that  stupid 
blockhead,  Jacob,  he  could  not  be  relied  on. 

The  tobacco-chewing  men  of  Zanowitz  listened  to  him  and 
assented,  or  said  nothing,  and  did  their  part  in  thinking. 

To  remain  on  the  beach  with  the  wind  driving  the  rain 
and  spray  into  one's  face,  was  by  no  means  comfortable,  so 
I  turned  away  from  the  group  and  walked  up  the  shore.  I 
knew  where  Aunt  Julchen's  cottage  stood,  and  I  thought  I 
would  look  in  and  say  a  few  friendly  words  to  Christel  if  I 
could.  But  as  if  he  suspected  my  intention  and  was  de- 
termined to  thwart  it,  old  Pinnow,  with  a  pair  of  fellows  of 
much  the  look  of  gallows-birds,  came  after  me  ;  so  I  gave  up 
my  design  for  the  time  and  went  through  the  town,  and  as- 
cended the  dunes,  intending  to  cross  the  heath  to  Trantow. 

I  had  just  crossed  the  summit  of  the  highest  dune,  which 
was  called  the  white  one  from  "the  peculiar  brilliancy  of  its 
sand,  and  from  which  one  commanded  an  extensive  prosjject 
up  and  down  the  shore,  when  I  heard  my  name  called.  I 
turned  and  perceived  a  female  figure  crouching  in  a  little 
hollow  under  the  sharp  ridge  of  the  dune,  upon  the  side  that 
looked  away  from  the  village  and  the  sea,  and  beckoning 
eagerly  to  me.  To  my  no  little  surprise  I  recognized  Chris- 
tel, and  at  once  hastened  to  her.  When  I  came  up,  she  drew 
me  into  the  hollow,  and  intimated  to  me  with  gestures  rather 
than  words  that  I  must  sit  still  and  keep  the  dog  quiet. 

"  What  is  all  this  for,  Christel  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  There  is  no  time  to  be  lost,"  she  answered,  "  and  I 
must  tell  you  in  two  minutes.  At  three  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing Herr  von  Zehren  came  to  see  '  him  ; '  they  thought 
I  was  asleep,  but  I  was  not,  because  I  had  been  crying 
about  grandmother,  and  I  heard  everything.  This  evening 
a  Mecklenburg  yacht  laden  with  silk  will  arrive.  Herr  von 
Zehren  has  gone  by  extra-post  to  R.  to  tell  the  captain,  who 
is  waiting  for  him  there,  to  set  sail.  He  will  return  himself 
with  him  on  the  yacht.     Then  they  planned  how  to  get  the 


144  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

goods  off  the  yacht;  and  *he'  offered,  as  the  coast  was 
clear,  to  take  them  off  himself  with  his  boat.  Always  before, 
the  goods  have  been  concealed  in  Zanowitz,  and  he  took  off 
such  as  were  intended  for  Uselin  from  Zehrendorf,  later,  as 
opportunity  offered.  When  Herr  von  Zehren  objected  that 
it  might  attract  notice  if  he  had  his  boat  out  without  any  ap- 
parent reason,  and  in  such  bad  weather,  '  he  '  said  that  Klaus 
had  been  wanting  to  go  see  his  aunt  before  he  went  away,  so 
he  would  take  him  over,  and  carry  me  along  too,  that  there 
might  be  no  possibility  of  suspicion.  Then  they  called  in 
Jock  Swart,  who  had  been  waiting  in  the  forge,  and  told  him 
to  come  over  here  at  once  and  have  ready  for  to-night 
twelve  of  the  surest  men  from  Zehrendorf  and  Zanowitz,  to  ac- 
company him  on  board — as  carriers  you  know.  Jock  went, 
and  after  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  Herr  von  Zehren  went 
too,  and  then  after  another  quarter  of  an  hour,  Jock  came 
back  again.  I  wondered  at  this,  for  Herr  von  Zehren  had 
told  him  expressly  and  several  times  over,  not  to  lose  a  min- 
ute, but  to  set  out  at  once  ;  but  '  he  '  must  have  given  him  a 
sign,  or  had  some  previous  understanding  with  him.  Then 
they  put  their  heads  together  and  talked  so  softly  that  I 
could  not  make  out  what  they  said,  but  it  must  have  been 
something  bad,  for  *  he '  got  up  once  or  twice  and  came 
and  listened  at  my  door  to  see  if  I  was  awake.  Then  he 
went  away,  but  Jock  stayed.  About  an  hour  later,  just  as 
day  was  beginning  to  break,  he  came  back  with  another 
man  —  the  customs-inspector  Blanck.  He  had  not  his 
uniform  on,  but  I  knew  him  at  once,  and  would  have  known 
him  anyhow  by  his  voice.  So  now  the  three  whispered  to- 
gether, and  after  a  little  while  went  away.  About  six  '  he ' 
came  back  alone,  and  knocked  at  my  door,  for  I  had  been 
afraid  to  come  out,  and  asked  if  I  was  not  going  to  get 
up  to-day  ?  Klaus  would  soon  be  there,  he  said,  and  we 
were  to  come  over  here  together,  and  I  was  to  bring  some 
things  with  me,  as  very  likely  he  would  leave  me  here  with 
my  aunt."  .  I 

While  Christel  was  telling  me  this,  she  looked  cautiously 
from  time  to  time  over  the  ridge  of  the  dune  to  see  if  the 
coast  was  clear. 

"  I  did  not  know  what  to  do,"  she  went  on,  "  for  I  could  not 
tell  Klaus  ;  he  is  like  a  child,  and  knows  nothing  about  it  all, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  145 

and  must  not  know  ;  and  I  thank  God  he  is  away.  I  put  it 
into  his  head  to  go  and  see  you,  for  I  thought  very  likely  you 
would  come  down  with  him,  as  you  did,  and  I  wanted  to  tell 
you,  if  possible,  to  see  if  you  could  do  anything.  Herr  von 
Zehren  has  always  been  so  good  to  me,  and  the  last  time  he 
was  here  said  he  would  take  care  of  Klaus  and  me,  and 
that  I  need  not  be  afraid  of  *  him,'  for  '  he  '  knew  very  well, 
and  he  had  moreover  told  '  him,'  that  if  he  did  me  any  harm 
he  would  shoot  him  dead.  And  since  then  '  he  '  has  left  me 
in  peace  ;  but  he  swears  horribly  at  Herr  von  Zehren,  and 
vows  that  he  will  be  even  with  him,  and  now  his  plan  is  to 
bring  him  to  the  gallows." 

She  had  begun  to  cry,  but  wiped  away  the  tears  with  her 
hand,  and  went  on  : 

"  I  can  do  nothing  more.  See  if  you  can  do  anything ; 
and  do  not  be  uneasy  on  my  account,  even  if  '  he '  learns 
that  it  was  my  doing." 

Her  face  suddenly  flushed  to  a  deep  crimson  ;  but  the 
brave  girl  was  determined  to  say  all  that  she  had  to  say,  and 
she  added  : 

*'  I  have  been  talking  with  my  aunt,  and  my  aunt  will  keep 
me  with  her,  and  as  she  has  a  great  number  of  friends  here, 
he  will  not  venture  to  give  her  any  trouble.  And  now  I 
must  go  back  ;  run  quickly  down  the  dune  ;  they  cannot  see 
you  below  there  ;  and  good-by  !  " 

I  pressed  her  hand  and  hurried  down  the  high  bare  dune, 
which  was  surrounded  by  a  number  of  other  lesser  ones  con- 
fusedly heaped  together  and  overgrown  with  beach-grass 
and  broom,  between  which  I  was  tolerably  safe  from  observa- 
tion. Still  I  kept  on  in  a  crouching  attitude,  and  did  not 
raise  myself  to  an  erect  posture  until  I  had  gone  a  hundred 
paces  or  so  over  the  heath,  where  concealment  was  no  longer 
possible.  When  I  looked  back  to  the  white  dune,  Christel 
was  nowhere  to  be  seen  ;  she  had  evidently  seized  a  favora- 
ble moment  to  slip  back  unobserved  into  the  village. 


146  Hammer  and  Anvil. 


-^^  CHAPTER  XV. 


CARO  probably  saw  no  reason,  as  I  rather  ran  than 
walked  along  the  narrow  path  leading  over  the  heath 
to  Trantowitz,  to  be  more  satisfied  than  before  with 
his  master's  proceedings.  I  no  longer  spoke  to  him  as  I  had 
been  doing.  I  had  no  eye  for  the  unfortunate  hares  which 
he  routed  out  of  their  damp  forms  to  relieve  his  extreme 
dullness  of  spirits,  nor  for  the  flocks  of  gulls  that  had  been 
driven  inland  by  the  storm.  I  hurried  on  as  if  life  and  death 
depended  upon  my  reaching  Trantowitz  five  minutes  earlier 
or  later  ;  and  yet  it  was  but  too  certain  that  Hans,  when  I 
had  taken  him  into  my  confidence,  would  be  as  much  at  a 
loss  as  myself.  But  Hans  von  Trantow  was  a  good  fellow,  and 
a  devoted  friend  of  Herr  von  Zehren,  as  I  well  knew.  And 
then  he  loved  Constance ;  for  Constance's  sake,  even  if  he 
had  no  other  reason,  he  must  help  me  to  save  Constance's 
father,  if  any  rescue  was  now  possible. 

And  so  I  tore  along.  Under  my  steps  jets  of  water  sprang 
from  the  marshy  soil  into  which  I  often  sank  to  the  ankles ; 
the  rain  dashed  into  my  face,  and  the  gulls  screamed  as  they 
wheeled  above  my  head. 

From  Zanowitz  to  Trantow  was  a  half-hour's  journey, 
but  it  seemed  to  me  an  age  before  I  reached  the  house,  a 
bald  and  desolate-looking  building  even  in  the  sunshine,  and 
now  doubly  forlorn  and  cheerless  in  the  rain.  In  front  of  the 
one-storied  dwelling  with  its  eight  tall  poplars,  whose  slen- 
der summits  were  wildly  swaying  in  the  storm,  stood  Gran- 
ow's  hunting-wagon  and  horses.  That  detestable  fellow  was 
there,  then  ;  but  no  matter  for  that ;  I  must  speak  with  Hans 
von  Trantow  alone,  if  I  had  first  to  pitch  Herr  von  Granow 
out  of  the  door. 

Entering,  I  foimd  the  gentlemen  at  breakfast;  a  couple 
of  empty  bottles  on  the  table  showed  that  they  had  been  sit- 
ting there  some  time  already.  Granow  changed  color  at  my 
entrance.  It  is  probable  that  with  my  heated  and  agitated 
face,  my  clothes  saturated  with  rain,  and  my  hunting-boots 
covered  with  the  sand  of  the  dunes  and  the  mud  of  the  moor, 
I  presented  a  rather  startling  appearance,  and  the  little  man 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  147 

had  not,  in  reference  to  me,  the  clearest  conscience  in  the 
world.  Trantow,  without  rising  at  my  entrance,  reached  a 
chair  and  drew  it  up  to  the  table,  then  gave  me  his  hand,  and 
nodded  his  head  towards  the  bottles  and  the  dishes.  His 
good-natured  face  was  already  very  red,  and  his  great  blue 
eyes  rather  glassy ;  it  was  plain  that  the  empty  bottles  were 
to  be  set  chiefly  to  his  account. 

"  You  have  certainly  not  been  out  shooting  in  this  horrible 
weather } "  asked  Herr  von  Granow,  with  sudden  friendli- 
ness, and  politely  placed  bread,  butter,  and  ham  before  me, 
which,  in  spite  of  all  my  anxiety,  I  attacked  with  energy, 
for  I  was  nearly  famished,  and  the  hot  air  of  the  room  had 
given  me  a  sensation  of  faintness. 

"  We  have  been  sitting  here  these  two  hours,"  he  went 
on,-  "  and  were  just  deliberating  how  we  should  spend  the 
day.  I  proposed  cards,  but  Hans  will  not  play ;  he  says  he 
means  to  give  it  up.     Gambling  is  a  vice,  he  says." 

"  So  it  is,"  muttered  Hans. 

"  Only  when  he  wins,  you  understand,"  said  Granow, 
laughing  at  his  own  wit.  "  He  considers  it  vicious  to  take 
from  other  people  the  money  which  they  very  likely  need. 
He  has  no  need  of  money  himself;  have  you  Hans  ?  " 

"  Got  no  use  for  it,"  said  Hans. 

"  There,  you  hear  him  yourself ;  he  has  got  no  use  for  it. 
He  must  marry,  that's  the  thing  for  him  ;  then  he  will  find 
out  a  use  for  his  money.     We  were  just  now  talking  about  it." 

Hans's  red  face  took  a  somewhat  deeper  shade,  and  he 
cast  a  shy  look  at  me.  It  struck  me  that  I  had  myself  been 
one  of  the  subjects  of  their  conversation. 

"  He  will  not  find  it  so  easy  as  you  who  have  only  to  ask 
and  have,"  I  said. 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,"  said  the  little  man,  with  evi- 
dent embarrassment. 

"  I  mean  that  this  is  what  you  told  me  yourself  the  day 
before  yesterday,"  I  answered.  "You  even  mentioned 
names ;  but  it  can't  be  managed ;  it  really  can't,  although 
Herr  von  Granow  has  considered  the  matter  from  every  side." 

I  uttered  the  last  words  in  an  ironical  tone,  turning  to 
Hans  as  I  spoke.  Hans,  whose  head  was  never  particularly 
clear,  could  catch  no  glimpse  of  my  meaning  at  all ;  but 
Herr  von  Granow  understood  me  perfectly. 


148  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

' "  A  jest  should  not  be  taken  more  seriously  than  it  is 
meant,"  he  said,  pouring  himself  out  a  glass  of  wine  with  a 
hand  that  visibly  shook. 

"Or  better,  one  should  not  venture  to  jest  upon. certain 
subjects  at  all,"  I  retorted,  following  his  example. 

"  I  am  old  enough  not  to  need  any  admonitions  from  you," 
said  the  little  man,  with  a  pitiful  attempt  to  assume  an  intimi- 
dating tone. 

"  And  yet  you  have  not  yet  learned  to  bridle  your  tongue," 
I  replied,  looking  him  steadily  in  the  face. 

*'  It  seems  you  intend  to  insult  me,  young  man,"  he  cried, 
setting  down  hastily  the  glass  of  which  he  had  only  tasted. 

"  Shall  I  make  that  fact  clear  to  you  by  throwing  this  glass 
in  your  face  .'' " 

"  Gentlemen  !  gentlemen  !  "  cried  Hans. 

"  Enough ! "  exclaimed  the  little  man,  pushing  back  his 
chair  and  rising  ;  "  I  will  bear  these  insults  no  longer.  I 
will  have  satisfaction,  if  this  gentleman  is  entitled  to  be 
dealt  with  in  that  way." 

"  My  father  is  a  respectable  officer  in  the  customs,"  I  an- 
swered ;  "  my  grandfather  was  a  minister,  and  so  was  my 
great-grandfather.     Yours  was  a  shepherd,  was  he  not  ?  " 

"  We  shall  meet  again,"  cried  the  little  man,  rushing  out 
of  the  room,  banging  the  door  after  him.  In  another  mo- 
ment we  heard  his  carriage  rattling  over  the  pavement  of  the 
court. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

NOW,  what  is  the  meaning  of  all  this?  "  asked  Hans, 
who  had  never  moved  from  his  chair  during  the 
whole  scene. 
I  broke  into  loud  laughter.  ' 

"  It  means,"  I  replied,  "  that  Herr  von  Granow  is  a  black- 
guard who  has  had  the  audacity  to  defame  a  lady  whom  we 
both  respect,  in  a  manner  which  deserves  far  more  serious 
treatment ;  but  besides  this,  I  wanted  to  get  him  away — I 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  149 

must  speak  to  you.      You  must  help  me — ^you  must  help 
him " 

I  did  not  know  how  to  begin,  and  in  my  excitement  I 
strode  wildly  up  and  down  the  room. 

"  Drink  off  half  a  bottle  at  once,"  said  Hans,  meditatively ; 
"that  is  a  specific  for  clearing  the  brain." 

But  without  having  recourse  to  this  specific,  I  was  pres- 
ently calm  enough  to  tell  him  what  it  was  that  so  agitated 
me.  I  related  to  him  everything  from  the  beginning ;  my 
first  suspicion  of  Herr  von  Zehren,  which  had  been  com- 
pletely lulled  until  Granow's  loquacity  had  aroused  it  again  ; 
then  Herr  von  Zehren's  half  admission  of  the  previous  eve- 
ning, and  the  circumstances  of  his  departure — keeping  silent, 
however,  about  the  letter  of  the  steuerrath,  which  was  not 
my  secret — and  then  my  exploration  in  the  cellar  this  morn- 
ing, and  finally  Christel's  disclosure.  I  wound  up  by  say- 
ing :  "  Herr  von  Trantow,  I  do  not  know  what  you  think  of 
his  conduct,  but  I  know  that  you  have  a  great  regard  for 
him,  and  that,"  I  added,  coloring,  "  you  deeply  respect  Con- 
stance, Fraulein  von  Zehren.  Help  me  if  you  can.  I  am 
resolved  to  risk  everything  rather  than  let  him  fall  into  the 
snare  which  clearly  has  been  set  for  him." 

Von  Trantow's  cigar  had  gone  out  while  I  was  speaking, 
nor  had  he  made  the  slightest  attempt  to  re-kindle  it — an 
evidence  of  the  rapt  attention  with  which  he  was  listening  to 
my  statement.  As  soon  as  I  paused,  he  stretched  out  his 
great  hand  to  me  over  the  table,  and  was  about  to  say  some- 
thing, but  perceived  that  both  our  glasses  were  empty,  so 
replenished  them  instead,  and  leaning  back  in  his  chair, 
sank  into  the  profoundest  meditation. 

"I  do  not  think  it  probable,"  I  proceeded,  warmed  by  his 
speechless  sympathy,  "  that  they  will  capture  him  ;  for  I  am 
convinced  that  he  will  defend  himself  to  the  last  extremity." 

Hans  nodded,  to  intimate  that  he  had  not  a  doubt  of  it. 

"  But  to  think  of  their  bringing  him  to  trial,  of  their  throw- 
ing him  into  prison.?  Herr  von  Trantow,  shall  we  suffer 
that,  if  we  can  prevent  it  ?  Only  yesterday  he  told  me  how 
one  of  his  ancestors,  also  named  Malte,  when  a  prisoner  in 
Uselin,  was  rescued  by  the  strong  arm,  and  at  the  sword's 
point,  by  one  of  yours,  named  Hans  like  yourself,  upon  a 
message  brought  by  a  faithful  squire.     The  whole  story  has 


ISO  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

come  round  again.     I  am  the  faithful  squire,  and  you  and  I 
will  cut  him  out  as  they  did  then." 

"  That  we  will !  "  cried  Hans,  smiting  the  table  with  his 
heavy  fist  so  that  the  bottles  and  glasses  rang.  "  If  they 
shut  him  up,  we  will  blow  up  the  prison." 

"  We  must  never  let  it  get  to  that  point,"  I  said,  smiling 
involuntarily,  despite  my  anxiety  at  Hans's  blind  zeal. 
"  We  must  warn  him  beforehand  ;  we  must  get  to  him  before 
anything  happens  ;  we  must  frustrate  the  whole  plan  founded 
upon  Pinnow's  and  Jock's  villainous  treachery.  But  how  ? 
How  can  it  be  done .''  " 

"  How  can  it  be  done  ?  "  echoed  Hans,  thoughtfully  rub- 
bing his  head. 

We — or  rather  I,  for  Hans  contented  himself  with  playing 
the  attentive  listener,  and  incessantly  replenishing  my  glass, 
with  the  view,  apparently,  of  assisting  my  invention — de- 
signed a  hundred  plans,  of  which  each  was  less  practicable 
than  the  previous  one,  until  I  hit  upon  the  following  scheme, 
which,  like  all  the  others,  had  the  fullest  and  promptest  ad- 
hesion of  the  good  Hans. 

If  their  plan  was  to  seize-  Herr  von  Zehren  flagrante  de- 
licto, as  Christel's  revelation  indicated,  it  was  most  probable 
that,  as  was  their  usual  plan  of  operations  in  similar  cases, 
they  had  laid  an  ambush  for  him.  This  ambush  could  only 
be  posted  upon  a  road  that  he  must  of  necessity  take,  or 
upon  one  to  which  he  was  purposely  enticed.  In  the  latter 
case  we  could  form  no  conjectures  of  its  disposition  ;  but  in 
the  former  we  might  assume  with  tolerable  assurance  that 
the  ambush  would  be  stationed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
castle.  In  every  event  our  aim  must  be  to  reach  him  as 
soon  as  possible.  But  to  effect  this  but  one  plan  was  practi- 
cable ;  we  must  set  out  at  once  with  Pinnow,  and  as  he  was 
not  likely  to  take  us  voluntarily  as  passengers,  we  must  be 
prepared  to  compel  him  to  it.  How  this  was  precisely  to  be 
done,  we  could  leave  to  chance  ;  the  all-important  thing  was 
that  we  should  be  in  Zanowitz  at  the  right  time.  Pinnow 
would  certainly  not  sail  before  night-fall,  as  the  smuggler- 
yacht  would  unquestionably  come  in  under  cover  of  the  dark- 
ness, and  then  would  approach  as  near  the  shore  as  possible. 
When  we  were  once  on  board,  it  would  be  time  to  think 
about  the  rest. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  151 

We  next  took  another  point  into  consideration.  That 
our  scheme  was  not  to  be  accomplished  without  force,  both 
Hans  and  I  were  thoroughly  aware.  Nothing  could  be  done 
with  guns  in  the  darkness,  nor  would  cutlasses  or  hunting- 
knives  be  sufficient  against  Pinnow  and  his  men,  who  ail 
carried  knives.     We  must  trust  to  pistols. 

Hans  had  a  pair ;  but  one  pair  was  not  sufficient.  I  re- 
membered that  there  was  another  pair  hanging  in  Herr  von 
Zehren's  chamber,  and  these  we  must  get.  I  thought  little 
of  Constance's  prohibition  from  entering  the  house  before 
her  father's  return  ;  here  were  heavier  interests  at  stake  ; 
this  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  Indeed  it  was  a  ques- 
tion if  it  would  not  be  judicious  to  give  Fraulein  von  Zehren 
a  hint  at  least  of  the  state  of  affairs ;  but  we  concluded  not 
to  do  so,  as  she  could  not  possibly  help  us,  and  would  only 
be  alarmed  to  no  purpose.  But  we  thought  it  prudent  to 
I  take  into  our  counsel  old  Christian,  who  could  be  relied  upon 

'    ■  in  any  case.     We  could  arrange  a  pre-concerted  signal  with 

him,  a  light  in  on§  of  the  gable  windows,  or  something  of 
that  sort,  by  which  he  could  let  us  know  at  a  distance,  in 
case  we  got  back  unmolested  to  Zehrendorf,  whether  the 
coast  was  clear  about  the  castle. 

By  the  time  we  had  got  so  far  with  our  deliberations,  it 
I  was  two  o'clock,  and  we  had  until  dusk  at  least  three  hours, 

I  which  were  to  be  got  through  with  with  as  much  patience  as 

we  could  muster — a  hard  task  for  me,  who  was  in  a  burning 
fever  of  impatience.  Hans  showed  himself  the  most  amiable 
of  hosts.  He  brought  out  his  best  cigars  and  his  best  wine  ; 
he  was  more  talkative  than  I  had  ever  known  him  ;  the  pros- 
pect of  an  adventure  of  so  serious  a  character  as  that  which 
we  had  in  view,  seemed  to  have  had  the  good  effect  of  arous- 
ing him  out  of  his  usual  apathy.  He  recounted  the  simple 
story  of  his  life  :  how  he  had  early  lost  his  parents,  how  he 
had  been  sent  to  a  boarding-school  at  the  provincial  capital, 
where  he  was  prepared  for  the  gymnasium,  in  which  he  re- 
mained until  his  seventeenth  year  and  rose  to  the  fourth 
class.  Then  he  became  a  farmer ;  took  his  estate  in  hand 
as  soon  as  he  was  of  age,  and  had  been  living  upon  it  six 
years — he  was  now  in  his  thirtieth — quietly  and  placidly, 
using  his  weapons  only  against  the  creatures  of  the  forest 
and  the  field,  raising  his  wheat,  shearing  his  sheep,  smoking 


152  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

his  cigars,  drinking  his  wine,  and  playing  his  cards.  There 
was  but  one  romantic  feature  in  all  his  prosaic  life,  and  that 
was  his  love  for  Constance.  It  was  in  the  year  that  he  came 
to  live  up>on  his  estate,  that  she  came  back  to  her  father ; 
and  to  see  Constance,  to  love  her,  and  to  love  her  still  more 
devotedly  long  after  he  had  been  convinced  of  the  hopeless- 
ness of  his  passion,  to  drown  this  hopeless  passion  in  wine, 
so  far  as  was  in  his  power — this  was  the  poor  fellow's  fate. 
He  accepted  it  with  perfect  resignation,  convinced  that  he 
was  not  the  man  to  make  his  own  fortune,  any  more  than  he 
had  been  able,  when  at  school,  to  do  his  own  exercises. 
Why  and  for  whom  should  he  plague  himself  with  work  "i 
He  had  all  that  he  wanted  in  the  present,  and  there  was  no 
future  for  him  to  look  forward  to.  He  was  the  last  of  his 
race,  and  had  not  even  a  kinsman  in  the  world.  When  he 
died,  his  estate,  as  a  lapsed  fief,  reverted  to  the  crown.  The 
crown  then  might  see  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  ruined 
barns  and  stables  and  with  the  dilapidated  house.  He  let 
decay  and  weather  work  their  will.  He  only  needed  a  room, 
and  in  this  room  we  were  now  sitting,  while  Hans  went  on 
with  his  recital  in  his  monotonous  way,  and  the  rain  beating 
against  the  low  windows  kept  up  a  melancholy  accompani- 
ment. I 
A  conversation  in  which  there  was  a  continual  reference 
to  Constance,  even  if  her  name  was  not  actually  mentioned, 
had  a  strangely  painful  charm  for  me.  Although  Hans  did 
not  breathe  a  syllable  of  complaint  against  the  fair  girl,  it 
was  plain  from  his  story  that  she  had  at  first  encouraged  his 
bashful  attentions,  and  only  altered  her  behavior  to  him 
after  her  meeting  with  Prince  Prora  at  the  watering-place 
two  years  before.  And  Hans  was  evidently  not  the  only 
one  who  had  received  encouragement.  Karl  von  Sylow, 
Fritz  von  Zarrentin — in  a  word,  almost  every  one  of  the 
young  noblemen  who  formed  Herr  von  Zehren's  circle  of 
acquaintance,  had  earlier  or  later,  with  greater  or  less  right, 
held  himself  to  be  the  favored  one.  Even  Granow,  although 
from  the  first  he  was  made  the  butt  of  his  companions,  might 
boast  that  he  was  favorably  looked  upon  by  the  young  lady 
during  the  earlier  months  of  his  residence  ;  indeed  Hans 
still  considered  Granow's  chance  by  no  means  desperate,  for 
the  little  man  was  very  rich,  and  she  would  only  marry  a 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  153 

rich  man,  he  added,  with  a  deep  sigh,  as  he  filled  his  glass 
once  more. 

At  Hans's  last  words  I  sprang  from  the  table  and  threw 
open  the  window.  I  felt  as  if  I  must  suffocate,  or  as  if  the 
low  ceiling  with  its  bent  beams  would  fall  in  upon  me, 

"  Is  it  still  raining  ?  "  Hans  asked. 

"  Not  at  this  moment,"  I  said.  But  one  of  those  thick 
fogs  of  which  several  had  passed  over  in  the  course  of  the 
day,  was  drifting  in  from  the  sea. 

"  Real  smugglers'  weather,"  said  Hans.  "  The  old  man 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself  to  drag  his  friends  out  on 
such  a  day.  But  that  cannot  he  helped.  Shall  we  not 
drink  another  bottle  ?    It  will  be  cursedly  cold  to-night" 

I  said  I  thought  we  had  already  drunk  more  than  enough, 
and  that  it  was  high  time  to  start. 

"Then  I  will  get  ready,"  said  Hans,  and  went  into  his 
chamber,  where  I  for  a  long  time  heard  him  rummaging 
among  his  water-boots. 

I  had  always  considered  myself  pretty  cool  in  moments  of 
I  danger  ;  but  in  Hans  I  had  met  my  master.     While  he  was 

\  overhauling  the  things  in  his  room,   I  heard  him  through 

i  the  half-open  door  whistling  to  himself  as  cheerily  as  if  we 

were  going  out  to  shoot  hares,  instead  of  an  adventure  of 
life  and  death.  To  be  sure,  I  said  to  myself,  his  is  a  case 
of  hopeless  love,  and  Herr  von  Zehren  is  merely  a  friend, 
neighbor,  and  equal,  whom  he  feels  it  his  duty  to  assist 
against  the  hated  police.  That  Hans,  in  combating  for  a 
cause  that  did  not  really  concern  him,  was  doing  much  more, 
or  at  least  acting  far  more  disinterestedly  than  I,  did  not 
occur  to  me. 

And  now  he  came  out  of  his  room,  if  not  the  wildest  of 
all  wild  warriors,  yet  in  appearance  one  who  would  be  very 
appropriately  selected  for  an  adventure  that  demanded  a 
strong  and  bold  man.  His  long  legs  were  incased  in  im- 
mense boots ;  over  a  close-fitting  jacket  of  silk  he  had  put 
on  a  loose  woollen  overcoat,  which  he  probably  wore  when 
hunting  in  winter,  and  which  could  be  drawn  close  with  a 
belt  or  allowed  to  hang  loose,  as  at  present,  he  having 
buckled  the  belt  under  it  around  the  jacket,  and  thrust  his 
pistols  into  the  belt.  With  a  jolly  laugh  he  displayed  his 
equipment  and   asked   me   if  I  would  not  have   an  over- 


, 


154  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

coat  also,  as  he  had  another ;  an  offer  which  I  gladly 
accepted. 

"  We  look  like  two  brothers,"  said  Hans  ;  and  in  fact  we 
might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for  brothers,  as  we  both 
had  the  same  stature  and  breadth  of  shoulders,  and  were 
dressed  almost  precisely  alike. 

"  If  there  are  not  too  many  of  them,"  said  Hans,  "  we 
can  easily  manage  them." 

"  A  half-dozen  to  each  of  us,  or  so,"  I  said,  and  laughed  ; 
but  I  was  very  far  from  a  mirthful  feeling  as  we  closed  the 
door  after  us,  and  Caro,  whom  we  had  left  behind,  broke  out 
into  a  dismal  howling  and  whining.  Poor  Caro,  he  was  in 
the  right  that  morning  when  he  reminded  me  with  his  woe- 
begone looks  that  we  should  never  praise  the  day  until  the 
evening. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

IT  was  four  o'clock  when  we  set  out,  and  already  it  was 
growing  dusk  as  we  took  the  foot-path  through  the 
stubble-field  to  2^hrendorf  No  clear  judgment  of  the 
weather  was  to  be  drawn  from  the  appearance  of  the  sky  and 
clouds,  as  the  whole  atmosphere  was  filled  with  watery  mist, 
through  which  every  object  took  a  singularly  strange  and 
unnatural  appearance.  We  pushed  on  rapidly,  sometimes 
side  by  side  and  sometimes  in  single  file,  for  the  path  was 
narrow  and  very  slippery  from  the  incessant  rains.  We 
were  just  deliberating  what  we  should  say  to  Constance,  in  case 
we  should  unfortunately  meet  her,  when  we  saw  upon  the 
road  bordered  with  willows,  which  was  but  a  few  hundred 
paces  distant  from  the  foot-path,  a  carriage  drawn  by  two 
horses  coming  from  the  castle  in  such  haste  that  in  less  than 
half  a  minute  it  had  vanished  in  the  mist,  and  we  could  only 
hear  the  trampling  of  the  galloping  horses  and  the  rattling 
of  the  carriage  over  the  broken  causeway.  Hans  and  I  looked 
at  each  other  in  astonishment. 

"Who  can  that  be?  "  he  asked.-  I 

"  It  is  the  stcuerrath,"  I  answered. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  155 

"  What  can  bring  him  here  ?  "  he  asked  again. 

I  did  not  answer.  I  could  not  tell  Hans  of  the  letter  that 
proved  the  direct  or  indirect  complicity  of  the  steuerrath,  nor 
explain  how  likely  it  was  that  he  would  attempt  to  warn  his 
brother  that  the  affair  had  taken  a  wrong  turn.  What  infor- 
mation could  he  have  brought  ?  Might  it  still  be  of  service 
to  the  unfortunate  man  whose  movements  were  dogged  by 
treachery  1 

"  Let  us  hasten  all  we  can,"  I  cried,  pressing  on  without 
waiting  for  Hans's  answer,  and  Hans,  who  was  a  capital 
runner,  followed  closely  upon  my  heels. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  had  reached  the  gate  which  opened 
on  this  side  into  the  court.  At  the  gate  was  a  stone-bench 
for  the  accommodation  of  persons  waiting  until  the  gate  was 
opened,  and  upon  this  bench  sat  or  rather  lay  old  Christian, 
with  blood  trickling  down  his  wrinkled  face  from  a  fresh 
wound  in  the  forehead.  As  we  came  up  he  seemed  to  be 
recovering  from  a  partial  swoon,  and  stared  at  us  with  a 
confused  look.  We  raised  him  up,  and  Hans  caught  some 
water  in  his  hollow  hand  from  a  neighboring  rain-spout  and 
sprinkled  it  in  his  face.  The  wound  was  not  deep,  and 
seemed  to  have  been  inflicted  with  some  blunt  instrument. 

"  What  has  happened.  Christian  t "  I  had  already  asked 
half-a-dozen  times,  before  the  old  man  had  recovered  his 
senses  sufficiently  to  answer  feebly  : 

"  What  has  happened  ?  She  is  off;  and  he  struck  me  over 
the  head  with  the  butt  of  his  whip  as  I  was  trying  to  shut 
the  gate." 

I  had  heard  enough.  Like  some  furious  animal  I  rushed 
to  the  house.  The  doors  were  all  standing  open  :  the  front 
door,  that  of  the  dining-room,  and  that  of  Herr  von  Zehren's 
chamber.  I  ran  in,  as  I  heard  hammering  and  rattling  in- 
side. Old  Pahlen  was  kneeling  before  Herr  von  Zehren's 
escritoire,  scolding  furiously  to  herself  while  trying  her  best, 
with  a  hatchet  and  crowbar,  to  force  the  lock.  She  had  not 
heard  me  enter.  With  one  jerk  I  dragged  her  to  her  feet ; 
and  she  started  back  and  glared  at  me  with  looks  flaming 
with  impotent  rage.  Her  gray  hair  hung  in  elf-locks  from 
under  her  dirty  cap,  and  in  her  right  hand  she  still  clutched 
the  hatchet.  The  horrible  old  woman,  whose  vile  nature 
was  now  openly  shown,  was  a  hideous  object  to  behold  ;  but 


156  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

I  was  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  be  checked  by  any  sight, 
however  repulsive. 

"  Where  has  she  gone  ?  "  I  thundered  at  her.  "  You 
must  know,  for  you  helped  her  off." 

"  Ay,  that  I  did,"  screamed  the  old  hag,  "  that  I  did  ; 
and  may  Satan  fetch  my  soul  for  doing  it !  The  thankless, 
worthless  creature  promised  to  take  me  with  her,  and  now 
leaves  me  here  with  shame  and  abuse  in  this  robber's  den  ; 
but  she'll  live  yet  to  come  to  it  herself  when  he  flings  her  out 
into  the  street,  the " 

"  Another  word,  woman,  and  I  strike  you  to  the  floor,"  I 
cried,  raising  my  fist  threateningly. 

The  old  woman  burst  into  a  screech  of  laughter.  "  Now 
he  begins !  "  she  cried.  "  And  didn't  they  make  a  fine  fool 
of  him,  the  stupid  blockhead !  Thought  he  was  the  man, 
to  be  sure,  while  the  other  one  was  with  her  every  night. 
Lets  himself  be  sent  out  of  the  way,  for  the  other  to  come  in 
his  coach  and  carry  off  the  pretty  lady."  And  the  old  wretch 
burst  again  into  a  sqreech  of  horrible  laughter. 

"  Be  that  as  it  may,"  I  said,  struggling  to  keep  down  the 
rage  and  anguish  that  were  tearing  my  heart,  "you  have 
been  rightly  served,  at  all  events ;  and  if  you  do  not  want 
me  to  have  you  hounded  off  the  place  for  a  thief,  as  you  are, 
you  had  better  take  yourself  off  at  once." 

"  Oh,  indeed ! "  screamed  the  hag,  planting  her  arms 
a-kimbo,  "  he  carries  matters  here  with  a  high  hand,  to  be 
sure  !  I  a  thief,  indeed  !  I  only  want  my  money.  I  have 
had  for  this  half-year  no  wages  from  the  whole  beggarly  lot, 
the  smuggling  gang  !  " 

She  had  received  from  me,  during  the  two  months  of  my 
stay  at  Zehrendorf,  more  than  her  whole  year's  service  could 
amount  to  ;  and  I  had  myself  seen  Herr  von  Zehren  pay  her 
wages  but  a  few  days  before,  and  add  a  handsome  present 
besides.  1 

"  Begone  !  "  I  said.     "  Leave  the  place  this  instant !  " 

The  old  woman  caught  up  the  hatchet,  but  she  well  knew 
that  she  could  not  intimidate  me.  So  she  retreated  before 
me  out  of  the  room,  and  out  of  the  house,  screaming  out  all 
the  time  the  vilest  abuse  and  the  most  furious  threats 
against  Herr  von  Zehren,  Constance,  and  myself  I  closed 
the  great  gate  after  her  with  my  own  hands,  and  then  looked 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  157 

for  Hans,  who  was  just  coming  out  of  the  lodge,  into  which 
he  had  been  taking  old  Christian. 

Hans  was  deathly  pale,  and  did  not  look  at  me  as  he  came 
to  my  side.  He  had  heard  enough  from  old  Christian  to 
make  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  seek  from  me  any  further 
particulars  of  Constance's  abduction;  and  he  probably  did 
not  care  to  let  me  see  how  hard  the  blow  had  struck  him, 
which  hurled  into  the  mire  the  image  of  his  idolatry,  and  so 
cruelly  destroyed  his  solitary  illusion,  the  last  glimmer  of 
poetry  in  his  cheerless  life.  I  seized  his  hand  and  wrung  it 
hard. 

"What  now?"  I  asked. 

"  Suppose  I  ride  after  him  and  knock  out  his  brains,"  said 
Hans. 

"  Excellent !  "  I  replied,  with  a  forced  laugh ;  "  if  he  had 
carried  her  off  by  force  ;  but  as  it  seems  she  went  with  him 
quite  willingly — come  on ;  the  thing  is  not  worth  thinking 
over  a  moment  longer." 

"  You  have  not  loved  her  for  six  years,"  said  poor  Hans. 

"  Then  saddle  Herr  von  Zehren's  bay  and  ride  after  him," 
I  said  ;  "  but  we  must  come  to  a  decision  at  once." 

Hans  stood  irresolute.  "By  heavens,  I  should  like  to 
help  you,"  he  said. 

"  Ride  after  the  rascal  and  punish  him,  if  you  want  to," 
I  cried,  "  I  am  perfectly  satisfied.  But  whatever  is  to  be 
done  must  be  done  at  once." 

"  Then  I  will !  "  said  Hans,  and  went  with  long  strides  to 
the  stable,  where  he  knew  Herr  von  Zehren's  horse  stood,  a 
powerful  hunter,  but  now  past  his  prime,  and  much  n^Iected 
of  late  since  Herr  von  Zehren  had  given  up  riding. 

There  was  on  the  place  a  half-grown  youth  who  did  odd 
jobs,  and  was  much  cuffed  about  by  the  others.  He  came 
up  now  and  said  that  Jock  had  been  there  an  hour  before 
and  taken  with  him  Karl,  who  was  cutting  straw  in  the  barn- 
loft,  and  Hanne,  who  was  sitting  in  the  lodge,  and  so  he  was 
left  to  do  Karl's  work.  Of  what  else  befell,  he  in  his  dark 
loft  had  seen  and  heard  nothing. 

To  entrust  to  this  simple,  scarcely  more  than  half-witted 
youth  the  part  which  Christian  should  have  taken  in  our 
plan  would  have  been  folly  ;  but  as  he  was  an  honest  fellow, 
we  could  trust  him  to  take  care  of  the  old  man  and  keep 


158  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

guard  over  the  house.  I  ordered  him  to  go  the  rounds  from 
time  to  time  with  the  dog,  whom  I  unchained,  and  under  no 
pretext  whatever  to  Jet  in  the  old  hag  whom  I  had  driven  off 
the  place,  and  from  whom  I  expected  mischief.  Fritz  prom- 
ised to  observe  my  orders  faithfully.  Then  I  hastily  caught 
down  Herr  von  Zehren's  pistols,  which  were  hanging,  loaded, 
against  the  wall. 

When  I  came  out  into  the  court  again,  I  saw  Hans  just 
galloping  out  of  the  gate.  A  wild  jealousy  seized  me. 
Why  could  I  not  be  at  his  side  ?  The  composure,  the  indif- 
ference, which  I  had  just  exhibited — all  was  mere  sham  ;  I 
had  but  a  single  desire,  to  revenge  myself  on  him  and  on 
her ;  but  I  must  leave  it  to  Hans  ;  he  had  loved  her  for  six 
years ! 

Thus  I  raged  in  spirit  as  I  hastened  at  a  rapid  rate 
through  the  fields  and  meadows,  and  finally  across  the 
heath  to  Zanowitz.  Strive  as  I  might  to  fix  my  thoughts 
upon  the  immediate  exigency,  they  perpetually  reverted  to 
what  had  just  taken  place.  A  weight  as  of  a  mountain  lay 
upon  my  heart.  I  remember  more  than  once  I  stood  still 
and  shrieked  aloud  to  the  gray,  cloudy  sky.  When  I  reached 
the  dunes,  however,  the  necessity  of  devising  some  definite 
plan  of  operations  brought  me  back  to  my  senses. 

The  weather  had  somewhat  cleared  up  in  the  meantime, 
and  the  wind  had  hauled  ;  the  rain  had  ceased,  and  the  fog 
had  lifted  ;  there  was  more  light  than  an  hour  before,  although 
the  sun  had  set  by  this  time.  Looking  down  from  the  height 
of  the  dunes  upon  Zanowitz  I  saw  the  dark  sea,  where  the 
waves  were  still  tumbling,  though  not  so  heavily  as  in  the 
morning,  cutting  with  a  sharp  horizontal  line  against  the 
bright  sky.  I  could  still  distinguish,  though  with  difficulty, 
the  larger  vessel  in  the  roadstead,  but  could  clearly  make 
out  the  row  of  boats  drawn  up  to  the  beach,  as  well  as  a 
little  yawl  that  came  rowing  towards  a  group  of  men  assem- 
bled on  the  strand.  If  these  were  the  last  of  Pinnow's  party 
I  had  not  a  minute  to  spare. 

It  was  also  possible  that  this  group  of  dark  figures  might 
be  functionaries  of  the  custom-house;  but  I  was  satisfied 
that  the  probability  of  this  being  the  case,  was  but  small. 
Zanowitz  was  crowded  with  smugglers,  and  Pinnow  could 
hardly  venture  upon  open  treachery.     Not  that  any  attempt 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  159 

would  have  been  made  to  resist  by  violence  an  expedition 
of  the  officials  conducted  by  him  ;  but  from  the  moment  in 
which  he  appeared  in  that  capacity,  he  would  be  marked  out 
for  vengeance,  and  his  life  would  not  be  worth  an  hour's 
purchase.  However  the  treachery  might  have  been  con- 
cocted, the  traitors  had  assuredly  taken  care  to  conceal  their 
own  share  in  it  from  all  other  eyes. 

But  I  had  no  time  for  much  consideration  on  these  points  ; 
and  indeed  did  not  pause  to  reflect,  but  ran  down  the  dunes. 
As  I  neared  the  group  a  man  came  out  from  it  and  advanced 
to  meet  me.  He  had  turned  up  the  wide  collar  of  his  pea- 
jacket,  and  pulled  the  brim  of  his  sou'-wester  as  far  as  possi- 
ble over  his  face,  but  I  recognized  him  at  once. 

"  Good  evening,  Pinnow,"  I  said. 

He  made  no  reply. 

"  I  am  glad  to  have  met  you,"  I  went  on  ;  "  I  heard  this 
morning  that  it  was  possible  you  might  sail  for  Uselin  this 
evening,  and  I  wanted  to  ask  you  to  take  me  along  with  you." 

He  still  gave  no  answer. 

"  You  will  have  to  take  me,  whether  you  like  it  or  not,"  I 
proceeded.  "  I  have  made  every  preparation  for  the  trip. 
Look  here,"  and  I  threw  back  my  overcoat  and  drew  one  of 
my  pistols  half  out  of  my  belt,  "  they  are  both  loaded." 

He  still  kept  silent. 

"  Shall  I  try  them  on  you  to  see  if  they  are  loaded  or 
not  ? "  I  asked,  drawing  one  from  my  belt  and  cocking  it. 

"  Come  on,"  said  Pinnow. 

I  lowered  the  hammer  of  the  pistol,  replaced  it  in  my  belt, 
and  then  walked  on  Pinnow's  right,  keeping  a  little  behind 
him.     Presently  I  said  : 

"  Do  not  expect  to  find  any  protection  among  the  men 
down  there.  I  will  keep  close  to  your  side,  and  upon  the 
first  word  you  let  fall,  tending  to  raise  them  against  me,  you 
are  a  dead  man.     How  many  have  you  already  on  board  ?  " 

"  Ten  men,"  muttered  Pinnow.  "  But  I  do  not  know  what 
you  want  with  me  ;  go  with  us  or  stay  behind  as  you  please ; 
what  the  devil  do  you  suppose  I  care  ? "' 

"  We  shall  see,"  I  answered,  drily. 

We  now  joined  the  group,  which  consisted  of  my  long 
friend  Jock,  the  men  Karl  and  Hanne,  and  the  deaf  and 
dumb  Jacob  who  had  rowed  the  yawl  over. 


i6o 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"  He  is  going  with  us,"  said  Pinnow,  laconically,  to  his 
men,  as  he  lent  a  hand  himself  to  push  off  the  yawl. 

I  thought  that  I  perceived  a  look  of  alarmed  surprise  pass 
over  the  brutal  features  of  Jock  at  seeing  us.  He  looked  at 
his  accomplice  for  an  explanation  of  the  mystery,  but  Pin- 
now  was  busy  with  the  yawl.  The  two  others  were  stand- 
ing apart ;  they  evidently  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it 
all. 

"  There  are  only  four  wanted,"  said  Pinnow. 
"  Very  good,"  I  said.     "  You,  Karl  and  Hanne,  go  home 
and  keep  perfectly  quiet,  do  you  hear  ?" 
"  I  can  go  home  too,"  said  Jock,  surlily. 
"  One  step  from  the  spot,"  I  cried,  levelling  the  pistol  at 
his  head,  "  and  you  have  stood  on  your  long  legs  for  the  last 
time.     Get  on  board  !" 
Jock  Swart  obeyed. 
"You  next,  Pinnow!" 
Pinnow  obeyed.     I  followed. 

We  had  about  twenty  minutes  rowing  before  we  reached 
the  cutter,  for  the  surf  was  heavy,  and  the  cutter  was  an- 
chored pretty  far  out  on  account  of  her  deep  draught.  This 
frustrated  a  plan  which  occurred  to  me  at  the  last  moment, 
namely,  to  put  the  whole  party  on  shore,  and  go  out  to  the 
yacht  with  Pinnow  and  Jock  alone.  But  I  saw  that  in  the 
rowing  back  and  forwards  that  would  be  necessary,  at  least 
an  hour  would  be  lost,  and  it  was  all-important  to  have 
speech  of  Herr  von  Zehren  as  speedily  as  possible.  What 
might  not  happen  in  an  hour  ? 

We  reached  the  cutter  that  was  dancing  at  her  anchor 
upon  the  waves,  like  an  impatient  horse  tugging  at  his  halter. 
We  pulled  alongside,  and  I  sprang  on  board  among  the 
dark  figures. 

"  Good  evening,  men,"  I  said.  "  I  am  going  along  with 
you.  Some  of  you  know  me,  and  know  that  I  am  a  good 
friend  of  Herr  von  Zehren  ;  and  besides,  Pinnow  and  Jock 
Swart  will  answer  for  me." 

The  two  that  I  named  accepted  the  sponsorship  by  their 
silence  ;  but  I  believe  that  it  was  unnecessary.  I  had  often 
been  with  Herr  von  Zehren  in  Zanowitz — indeed  we  had 
been  there  but  the  day  before — and  had  probably  occasion- 
ally spoken  with  every  one  of  the  men.     They  all  knew  my 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  i6i 

intimate  association*  with  him,  and  could  see  nothing  re- 
markable that  I  should  take  part  in  an  expedition  made  for 
the  account  of  one  who  was  to  a  certain  extent  my  patron  as 
he  was  theirs.  No  one  answered  me — these  people  were 
not  in  the  habit  of  wasting  speech — ^but  they  willingly  received 
me  among  them.  My  impression  that  Pinnow  and  Jock 
Swart  were  the  only  traitors,  was  confirmed.  So  in  every 
sense  he  was  now  in  my  power.  If  I  told  the  men  what  I 
knew,  the  two  accomplices  would  probably  have  flown  over- 
board ;  for  the  Zanowitz  men  were  not  to  be  trifled  with  in 
these  matters. 

I  said  as  much  to  Pinnow  as  I  took  my  place  beside  him 
at  the  helm. 

"  Do  what  you  please,"  he  muttered,  putting  a  quid  of 
tobacco  into  his  wide  mouth. 

Although  Christel's  information  was  so  positive,  a  doubt 
came  over  me  as  I  marked  the  imperturbable  calmness  of  the 
man  who  knew  that  his  life  was  every  moment  at  risk.  Had 
Christel's  hearing  deceived  her  in  her  excitement  ?  Had  the 
good  Hans  and  I  unnecessarily  mixed  ourselves  up  with  this 
lawless  crew,  who  were  plying,  in  darkness  and  mist,  their 
perilous  trade  "i 

By  this  time  the  cutter,  a  capital  sailer,  was  flying  through 
the  waves.  The  sky  had  grown  much  clearer;  there  was 
still  light  enough  to  see  pretty  plainly  at  two  or  three  hun- 
dred yards  distance.  But  it  was  bitter  cold,  and  the  surf 
that  dashed,  often  in  heavy  masses,  over  the  deck,  by  no 
means  added  to  the  comfort  of  the  situation.  The  small 
craft  was  crowded  with  the  fourteen  men  that  were  on  board. 
Wherever  one  looked,  there  lay  or  crouched  a  dark  figure. 
Pinnow  sat  at  the  helm.  As  I  kept  my  post  at  his  side,  and 
had  thus  an  opportunity  to  watch  him  closely,  I  grew  more 
dubious  with  every  minute  whether  there  was  not  some  mis- 
take in  the  whole  affair.  There  sat  tke  broad-shouldered 
man,  moving  not  a  muscle  of  his  face,  except  when  from 
time  to  time  he  slowly  turned  his  quid  from  one  cheek  into 
the  other,  or  fixed  his  sharp  eyes  upon  the  sails,  or  turned 
them  out  to  sea.  When  we  tacked,  a  manoeuvre  which  was 
performed  almost  every  minute,  and  he  called  "Luff!"  for  us 
to  stoop  and  let  the  boom  pass  over  our  heads,  his  voice 
rang  always  firm  and  clear.     Was  it  possible. that  a  traitor 


1 62  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

could  have  so  sure  a  hand,  so  sharp  an  eye,  and  could  chew 
his  tobacco  with  such  equanimity  ? 

"  How  far  do  you  think  we  shall  have  to  go  before  we 
find  the  yacht  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  We  may  come  up  with  her  at  any  moment,"  Pinnow 
growled ;  "  and  very  likely  we  may  see  nothing  at  all  of 
her."  I 

"  How  so  ? " 

"  If  they  should  have  caught  sight  of  one  of  the  coast- 
guard boats,  they  would  stand  out  to  sea  again."  j 

"  How  long  will  you  look  for  her  ?  " 

"  One  hour  ;  so  it  was  arranged." 

"  Between  you  and  Herr  von  Zehren,  or  between  you  and 
Inspector  Blanck  ?  " 

Pinnow  squirted  his  tobacco-juice  overboard  and  growled  : 

"  For  the  last  time  I  tell  you  that  I  do  not  know  what  you 
want.  The  foolish  wench  Christel,  I  suppose,  has  made  you 
believe  that  I  am  playing  false  ;  but  she  is  more  likely  to 
have  done  it  herself  I  should  be  sorry  if  she  gave  up  her 
old  foster-father  in  order  to  get  rid  of  him  ;  but  what  will 
such  a  wench  not  do  ?  " 

These  words,  that  the  smith  grumbled  out  in  his  surly 
way,  made  a  strong  impression  upon  me.  Had  I  not  but  an 
hour  before  had  proof  what  a  girl  would  do  to  carry  out  her 
will  ?  And  Pinnow  was  only  her  foster-father.  Could  she 
have  invented  a  plausible  tale  to  set  Herr  von  Zehren  and 
myself  against  the  old  man  ?  Could  she  have  herself  perpe- 
trated the  treachery  that  she  ascribed  to  him,  and  have  given 
the  information  to  the  officers,  in  order  in  this  way  to  be  rid 
of  one  whom  she  had  good  reason  for  wishing  out  of  the 
way  ?  And  had  her  conscience  smitten  her  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, when  she  reflected  that  his  ruin  would  involve  that  of 
Herr  von  Zehren,  to  whom  she  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  ? 
Was  her  story  to  me  but  an  attempt  to  save  him  through  my 
means  ? 

I  admit  that  a  minute's  calm  reflection  would  have  suf- 
ficed to  convince  me  of  the  extreme  improbability  of  this 
idea ;  but  how  could  I  calmly  reflect  in  the  situation  and  in 
the  frame  of  mind  in  which  I  then  was } 

A  wild  merriment  seized  me,  and  I  laughed  aloud.  Was 
it  not  a  thing  to  laugh  at,  that  of  us  two  conspirators,  Hans 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  163 

was  galloping  after  the  pretty  pair  over  the  wretched  road 
through  mist  and  drizzle,  without  the  shadow  of  a  reasona- 
ble ground  for  such  a  race  ;  and  was  it  not  just  as  ridiculous, 
that  I,  who  with  such  extravagant  zeal  and  blindness,  had 
been  running  from  the  morning  until  now,  through  storm  and 
rain,  tortured  by  countless  anxieties,  was  a  mere  puppet, 
moved  by  a  string  whose  end  was  held  by  two  girls'  hands, 
the  one  of  which  I,  in  my  gratitude,  had  passionately  kissed, 
and  the  other  at  least  pressed  cordially.  Truly  it  would 
have  been  better  if  we  had  both  stayed  by  our  bottle  in  the 
warm  room. 

"  Look  there  !  "  said  Pinnow,  touching  my  shoulder,  while 
at  the  same  moment  he  gave  the  word,  "  Luff ! "  in  a  pecul- 
iar, long-drawn,  suppressed  tone. 

I  perceived  at  but  a  few  hundred  yards  distance  a  trimly- 
rigged  schooner  of  moderate  size,  and  I  recognized  at  a 
glance  one  of  the  vessels  of  the  coast-guard,  named  the 
Lightning.  I  had  too  often  been  on  board  her,  and  had 
sketched  her  too  often  under  every  possible  arrangement  of 
sails,  to  be  deceived  in  her. 

"  That  is  the  Lightning,''^  I  exclaimed. 

At  the  same  moment  that  the  cutter  went  about,  the  Light- 
ning also  altered  her  course  and  bore  down  on  us. 

"  Boat  ahoy  !  "  came  through  a  speaking  trumpet  over  the 
dash  of  the  waves. 

My  heart  seemed  to  stop  beating ;  my  hand  lay  on  the 
butt  of  my  pistol.  If  Pinnow  laid  the  cutter  to,  his  treachery 
was  proven. 

"  Boat  ahoy ! "  came  over  the  water  again. 

"  Haul  aft  the  foresail !  "  ordered  Pinnow. 

I  breathed  again.  Pinnow's  order  was  equivalent  to  sauve 
quipeut. 

"  Boat  ahoy  !  "  came  their  hail  for  the  third  time,  and  al- 
most in  the  same  moment  there  was  a  flash  on  board  the 
Lightning,  and  the  report  of  a  musket,  deadened  by  the  dis- 
tance and  the  plashing  of  the  waves,  reached  my  ear. 

"  Shake  out  that  reef  in  the  jib  !  "  ordered  Pinnow. 

I  took  my  hand  from  the  pistol.  There  was  now  no  doubt 
that  Pinnow  was  doing  his  utmost  to  escape  the  pursuing 
vessel.  My  heart  leaped  with  joy  ;  the  man  at  my  side,  of 
whom  I  had  once  been  so  fond,  though  he  had  never  de- 


164  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

served  my  affection,  was  at  all  events  no  traitor.  What 
would  I  have  done  if  I  had  known  that  this  was  all  a  care- 
fully arranged  plan,  in  carrying  out  which  the  cold-blooded 
old  villain  was  not  in  the  least  disturbed  by  my  clumsy  in- 
terference ;  that  this  meeting  with  the  schooner  was  precon- 
certed in  order  to  lead  the  latter  upon  the  right  track  ?  That 
the  flight  and  pursuit  were  merely  feigned,  to  conceal  the 
treachery  from  the  other  smugglers,  and  that  the  three  or 
four  blank  cartridges  that  were  fired  from  the  schooner  had 
the  same  object  ?  What  would  I  have  done  if  I  had  known 
all  this  ?  Well  for  me  that  I  did  not  know  it ;  at  least  no 
blood  of  a  fellow-creature  cleaves  to  my  hand. 


-o- 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  cutter  now  flew  gallantly  along  under  a  press  of 
canvass  that  laid  her  lee-bulwarks  nearly  under  water, 
while  the  Lightning  fell  astern,  and  in  brief  time  was 
lost  to  our  sight. 

A  sort  of  life  had  come  into  the  silent  and  almost  motion- 
less crew  of  the  cutter.  They  raised  their  heads  and  ex- 
changed remarks  upon  the  incident,  which  to  them  was  noth- 
ing so  unusual.  Every  one  of  these  men  had  at  some  time 
or  other  been  brought  into  dangerous  contact  with  the  reve- 
nue service.  The  liberty,  and  possibly  the  life  of  every  man 
there  had  at  some  time  or  other  hung  by  a  single  thread. 
So  no  one  exhibited  any  special  excitement,  but  Smith  Pin- 
now  least  of  all.  He  sat  at  the  helm  just  as  before,  casting 
keen  glances  at  the  sails  and  into  the  dusk,  chewing  his  to- 
bacco, and  otherwise  not  moving  a  muscle.  He  did  not  say 
a  word  to  me,  as  if  it  was  not  worth  the  while  of  an  old  sea 
dog  to  speak  to  so  young  a  fellow  about  things  which  he  did 
not  understand.  I  felt  a  dryness  in  my  throat  that  com- 
pelled me  to  cough  once  or  twice,  and  I  buttoned  my  over- 
coat closer  over  my  pistols. 

And  now  another  vessel  loomed  through  the  dusk,  and 
this  time  it  was  the  long-looked-for  yacht,  a  tolerably  large 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  165 

craft,  with  but  a  single  sail,  but  a  full  deck.  In  a  few  min- 
utes we  were  alongside  of  her,  and  immediately  the  bales  of 
goods,  which  were  all  in  readiness,  were  lowered  from  the 
deck  of  the  yacht,  and  taken  on  board  by  the  crew  of  the 
cutter,  who  were  now  alert  enough  in  their  movements. 
The  whole  went  on  with  extraordinary  silence  ;  hardly  now 
and  then  could  be  heard  a  suppressed  exclamation,  or  an 
order  uttered  half  aloud  in  the  gruff  voice  of  the  captain  of 
the  yacht. 

I  was  one  of  the  first  to  board  the  yacht,  but  I  looked 
around  in  vain  for  Herr  von  Zehren.  I  was  already  congrat- 
ulating myself  that  he  was  not  on  board,  when  he  suddenly 
emerged  from  the  hatchway  that  led  to  the  cabin.  His  first 
glance  fell  upon  me,  and  he  came  towards  me  with  an  un- 
steady gait,  caused,  as  I  supposed,  by  the  motion  of  the 
vessel. 

"  And  what  in  the  devil's  name  has  brought  you  here  ? " 
he  cried  with  a  hoarse  voice  ;  but  I  had  no  time  to  give  him 
any  explanation.  The  cutter  had  now  ail  her  lading  on 
board,  and  the  captain  of  the  yacht  coming  up,  said,  "  Now,  be 
off  with  you !  "  He  had  just  learned  that  a  revenue  schooner 
was  about,  and  had  no  desire  to  risk  his  vessel  and  the  rest 
of  his  cargo.     "  Be  off !  "  he  repeated,  in  a  rough  tone. 

"  To-morrow  evening,  then,  at  the  same  time,"  said  Herr 
von  Zehren. 

"  We'll  see  about  it,"  said  the  captain,  and  sprang  to  the 
helm,  for  the  yacht,  which  had  already  weighed  her  anchor, 
and  whose  mainsail  was  now  half-mast  high,  began  to  come 
round  to  the  wind. 

A  scene  of  confusion  followed.  The  yacht's  manoeuvre 
had  been  performed  without  any  consideration  for  the  cutter 
alongside,  and  came  very  near  sinking  our  little  craft.  There 
was  a  burst  of  oaths  on  both  sides,  a  tremendous  grinding 
and  cracking,  a  perilous  leap  from  the  deck  of  the  yacht  to 
that  of  the  cutter,  and  we  pushed  off,  while  the  yacht,  which 
had  already  caught  the  wind,  went  on  her  course  with  full  sails. 

All  this  had  taken  place  so  rapidly,  and,  besides,  the  bustle 
and  confusion  of  such  a  number  of  men  on  so  small  a 
craft,  as  they  set  the  sails  and  stowed  the  cargo  in  the  fore- 
hold,  were  so  great,  that  some  time  passed  ere  I  could  get  to 
Herr  von  Zehren's  side. 


1 66  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

He  was  still  swearing  at  the  villain  of  a  captain,  the  cow- 
ard who  was  running  from  a  miserable  revenue-schooner 
that  he  could  run  down  and  sink  in  five  minutes.  Catching 
sight  of  me  he  asked  again,  "  What  has  brought  you  here  ?  " 

I  was  somewhat  embarrassed  how  to  answer  this  question. 
My  suspicion  of  Pinnow  had  entirely  vanished,  and  Pinnow 
sat  close  beside  us  at  the  helm  and  heard  the  question  put 
in  a  loud  tone.     I  contented  myself  with  saying  : 

"  I  was  afraid  some  misfortune  might  happen  to  you,  and 
wanted  to  be  with  you  !  " 

"  Misfortune  !  "  he  cried.  "  Stupidity,  cowardice,  that  is 
the  only  misfortune  !     The  devil  take  the  stupid  poltroons  !  " 

He  sat  down  by  Pinnow  and  talked  with  him  in  an  under- 
tone.    Then  turning  to  me,  he  said  : 

"  You  sent  two  of  the  men  home ;  you  should  not  have 
interfered  with  them.  I  need  their  services  ;  every  back  is 
now  worth  a  thousand  thalers  to  me.  Or  did  you  propose 
to  carry  a  pack  yourself  ?  " 

He  said  this  in  an  irritated  tone  that  roused  my  indigna- 
tion. If  I  had  acted  injudiciously,  I  had  done  all  for  the 
best ;  and  to  be  rebuked  for  my  faithful  service  ixv  the  pres- 
ence of  Pinnow,  it  was  too  much.  I  had  a  sharp  answer  at 
my  tongue's  end,  but  I  gulped  down  my  anger  and  went 
forward. 

He  did  not  call  me  back ;  he  did  not  come  after  me  to 
say  a  friendly  word  as  he  had  always  before  done,  whenever 
in  his  hastiness  he  had  wounded  my  feelings.  Presently  I 
heard  him  rating  two  of  the  men  in  a  shrill  voice,  for  what, 
I  could  not  understand  ;  but  this  shrill  tone  which  I  had 
never  before  heard  from  him,  told  me  at  once  that  what  I 
had  feared  was  the  truth  ;  he  was  intoxicated. 

A  horrible  feeling  of  disgust  and  wretchedness  came  over 
me.  For  the  sake  of  this  man,  who  was  gesticulating  there 
like  a  maniac,  I  had  done  what  I  had  ;  for  his  sake  I  was 
here  among  this  abandoned  crew  as  accomplice  of  a  crime 
which  from  boyhood  had  always  seemed  to  me  one  of  the 
most  detestable  ;  for  his  sake  I  had  well-nigh  become  a 
murderer.  And  even  now  I  had  in  my  pocket  my  father's 
letter,  in  which  the  old  man  had  given  me  such  a  solemn 
warning,  and  commanded  me,  if  I  had  any  regard  for  his 
peace,  to  return  to  him  immediately. 


-:^ 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


167 


I  felt  for  the  letter,  and  my  hand  came  in  contact  with  the 
pistols  in  my  belt.  I  felt  a  strange  impulse,  here  upon  the 
spot,  in  the  midst  of  the  smuggler-gang,  and  before  the  eyes 
of  their  drunken  leader,  to  blow  out  my  brains.  At  this  mo- 
ment I  thought  of  the  good  Hans  who  was  risking  himself 
for  a  cause  that  was  not  a  whit  better.  And  yet  he  may 
thank  heaven,  I  said  to  myself,  that  he  is  not  on  this  expe- 
dition. 

"  Boat  ahoy !  "  suddenly  rang  over  the  water  as  before, 
and  the  Lightning  again  loomed  out  of  the  dusk,  and  a 
couple  of  shots  were  fired. 

This  was  the  signal  for  a  chase  which  lasted  probably  an 
hour,  during  which  the  cutter,  while  seeming  to  make  every 
effort,  by  countless  dexterous  and  daring  evolutions,  to 
escape  her  pursuer,  drew  ever  nearer  and  nearer  to  that  part 
of  the  coast  which  had  been  agreed  upon  between  Pinnow 
and  the  officers,  about  half  a  mile  above  Zanowitz,  where 
the  depth  of  the  water  would  allow  her  to  run  almost  imme- 
diately upon  the  beach.  From  here  one  could  proceed  to 
Zehrendorf  by  a  wagon-road  which  ran  along  the  strand  to 
Zanowitz,  and  from  there  over  the  heath  ;  or  one  could  go 
directly  across  the  heath  ;  but  in  the  latter  case  there  was  a 
large  and  very  dangerous  morass  to  be  crossed,  which  could 
only  be  done  by  secret  paths  known  to  the  smugglers  alone. 
It  was  ten  to  one  that  Herr  von  Zehren  would  choose  the 
way  over  the  moor  instead  of  that  along  the  coast,  from  the 
spot  to  which  the  cutter  had  apparently  beeit  driven. 

While  the  chase  lasted,  I  did  not  move  from  the  spot  in 
which  I  was,  fully  determined  to  take  no  active  part  in  the 
affair,  happen  what  might.  Herr  von  Zehren  made  my  pas- 
sive part  an  easy  one  ;  often  as  he  came  near  me,  he  never 
once  took  any  notice  of  me.  During  this  hour  of  excite- 
ment his  intoxication  seemed  to  have  increased  ;  his  behav- 
ior was  that  of  a  raging  madman.  He  shrieked  to  Pinnow 
to  run  the  schooner  down  ;  he  returned  the  fire  of  the  offi- 
cers with  one  of  Pinnow's  old  guns,  which  he  had  found  in 
the  cabin,  although  the  Lightning  prudently  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance which  would  have  been  too  great  for  even  a  rifle  of 
long  range  ;  and  as  the  cutter,  after  a  long  tack  out  to  sea, 
on  which  she  distanced  the  schooner,  stood  in  again  and 
reached  the  shore  unmolested,  he  leaped  out  into  the  shallow 


1 68 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


water,  and  his  men  had  all  to  follow  him,  after  each  had 
been  loaded  with  one  of  the  heavy  packs  which  were  made 
up  for  this  purpose.  There  were  eleven  carriers  in  all,  as 
Pinnow  oifered  the  services  of  the  boatmen  he  had  brought 
from  Zanowitz,  saying  that  he  could  get  along  with  the  deaf 
and  dumb  Jacob  alone  ;  and  thus  the  place  of  one  of  the 
two  men  whom  I  had  sent  home  was  filled.  But  there  still 
remained  a  twelfth  pack,  which  lay  upon  the  deck,  and  would 
have  been  left,  as  there  was  no  one  to  carry  it,  had  I  not 
managed  to  get  it  on  my  shoulders  by  laying  it  on  the  gun- 
wale of  the  boat,  and  then  springing  into  the  surf,  which 
reached  to  my  knees.  I  was  resolved  that  if  I  parted  from 
Herr  von  Zehren  that  night,  he  should  not  be  able  to  say 
that  I  had  caused  him  the  loss  of  a  twelfth  part  of  his  prop- 
erty, won  with  so  much  toil  and  care,  with  the  risk  of  the 
liberty,  and  lives  of  so  many  men,  and  at  the  price  of  his 
own  honor. 

A  boisterous  laugh  resounded  behind  me  as  I  left  the  cut- 
ter. It  came  from  Pinnow ;  he  knew  what  he  was  laughing 
about.  The  cutter,  lightened  of  her  lading,  was  now  afloat, 
and  as  I  gained  the  beach  and  turned,  she  was  slowly  stand- 
ing out  to  sea.     He  had  done  his  shameful  work. 

At  this  moment  it  flashed  upon  me,  "  He  is  a  traitor,  after 
all !  "  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  his  laugh  of  malicious 
triumph  that  again  aroused  my  suspicion,  or  what  suggested 
the  thought,  but  I  said  to  myself,  as  I  closed  the  file  which 
was  headed  by  "Herr  von  Zehren  and  Jock  Swart,  "Now  it 
will  soon  be  decided." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


WE  had  passed  the  dunes,  and  were  marching  in  single 
file  across  the  sandy  waste  land  on  the  other  side. 
No  word  was  spoken  ;  each  man  had  enough  to  do  in 
carrying  his  heavy  pack  ;  I  perhaps  the  most  of  all,  although 
none  of  the  men,  unless  it  might  be  Jock  Swart,  equalled  me 
in  strength ;  but  in  such  things  practice  is  everything.     And 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  169 

then  in  addition  to  my  pack,  which  probably  weighed  a  hun- 
dred-weight, I  bore  another  burden  from  which  the  others  were 
free,  and  which  pressed  me  far  more  heavily — the  burden  of 
shame  that  my  father's  son  was  bending  under  this  bale  of  silk, 
of  which  the  revenue  was  defrauded,  because  I  would  not  cause 
a  loss  of  property  to  the  man  whose  bread  I  had  been  eating 
for  two  months.  And  then  I  thought  with  what  happiness  my 
heart  beat  high  when  I  left  Zehrendorf  in  the  morning,  and 
that  I  was  now  returning  deceived  by  the  daughter,  insulted 
by  the  father,  contaminated  by  the  defilement  of  the  base 
traffic  to  which  I  had  lent  myself,  and  that  this  was  the  end 
of  my  visionary  splendors,  of  my  adored  liberty  !  But  the 
end  had  not  yet  come. 

Without  a  moment's  rest  we  kept  on,  the  wet  sand  crunch- 
ing under  our  feet,  when  of  a  sudden  a  word  was  given  at 
the  head  of  the  file  and  passed  on  in  an  under-tone  from 
man  to  man  until  it  came  to  me,  who  being  the  last  could 
pass  it  no  further — "  Halt !  " 

We  had  reached  the  edge  of  the  moor.  It  could  be  en- 
tered on  this  side  only  by  a  narrow  strip  which  was  passable  ; 
then  came  a  stretch  of  dry  land,  a  sort  of  island,  surrounded 
by  the  morass  on  every  side,  which  closed  in  again  at  its  op- 
posite extremity,  perhaps  two  thousand  paces  distant,  and 
there  was  again  only  a  narrow  path  which  a  heavily  laden 
man  could  pass  without  sinking  into  the  morass.  After  this 
came  the  heath,  which  extended  from  the  lands  of  Tranto- 
witz  and  Zehrendorf  on  one  side  to  the  dunes  of  Zanowitz 
on  the  other,  and  which  I  had  already  crossed  three  times 
to-day. 

The  place  where  we  halted  was  the  same  where  I  had 
stood  with  Granow  three  evenings  before.  I  recognized  it 
by  two  willows  which  grew  on  the  edge  of  the  hollow  from 
which  I  had  first  seen  the  band  of  night-prowlers  emerge. 
This  hollow  lay  now  a  little  to  our  left,  at  perhaps  fifty  paces 
distance ;  and  I  could  not  have  distinguished  the  willows  in 
the  increased  darkness,  but  for  the  extraordinary  keenness 
of  my  sight.  On  account  of  this  darkness  the  men  had  to 
close  up  in  order  not  to  deviate  from  the  narrow  path,  and 
this  was  the  reason  that  a  momentary  halt  had  been  ordered. 

But  it  was  only  for  a  moment,  and  again  we  struck  into 
the  moor  upon  the  narrow  causeway :  to  the  right  and  left 
8 


170  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

among  the  rushes  gleamed  a  pale  phosphorescent  light  from 
the  stagnant  water  which  lay  around  in  great  pools,  and  the 
ground  on  which  we  were  treading  oscillated  in  a  singular 
manner,  as  we  crossed  it  in  a  sort  of  trot. 

The  path  had  been  safely  passed,  and  the  men  were  march- 
ing more  slowly,  when  my  ear  caught  a  clicking  sound  like 
the  cocking  of  a  gun.  The  sound  was  behind  me ;  that  I 
had  plainly  heard;  and  I  knew  besides  that  none  of  our 
party  was  armed.  I  stopped  to  listen,  and  again  I  heard  the 
same  sound ;  and  presently  I  distinguished  upon  the  spot 
where  we  had  just  passed,  a  figure  emerge  between  the  tall 
rushes,  followed  immediately  by  a  second  and  a  third. 
Without  thinking  to  throw  the  heavy  pack  from  my  shoulders, 
and  indeed  without  being  conscious  of  it,  I  ran  to  the  head 
of  the  file  and  touched  Herr  von  Zehren,  who  with  Jock 
Swart  was  leading  the  march,  upon  the  shoulder. 

"  We  are  pursued  !  " 

"Nonsense  !  "  said  Herr  von  Zehren. 

"  Halt !  "  cried  a  powerful  voice  behind  us. 

"  Forward !  "  commanded  our  leader. 

"  Halt !  halt !  "  it  was  repeated,  and  half-a-dozen  shots 
were  fired  in  quick  succession,  the  bullets  whistling  over  our 
heads. 

In  an  instant  our  whole  party  was  scattered,  as  is  the 
custom  of  contrabandists  when  they  are  hotly  pressed,  and, 
as  in  the  present  instance,  they  are  not  prepared,  or  not  dis- 
posed to  offer  resistance.  On  all  sides,  except  in  the  direc- 
tion of  our  pursuers,  I  saw  the  men,  who  had  at  once  cast 
off  their  packs,  stealthily  slipping  away,  some  even  creeping 
off  on  all-fours.  In  the  next  moment  Herr  von  Zehren  and 
I  were  alone. 

Behind  us  we  heard  the  ring  of  iron  ramrods  in  the  bar- 
rels. They  were  re-loading  the  muskets  that  had  been  fired. 
This  gave  a  brief  pause. 

Herr  von  Zehren  and  I  were  standing  together.  "  How 
many  are  there  }  "  he  asked  in  a  whisper. 

"  I  cannot  make  out,"  I  answered,  in  a  similar  tone  ;  "  I 
think  more  are  coming  up.  There  can  hardly  be  less  than  a 
dozeYi." 

"  They  will  not  advance  any  further  in  the  darkness,"  he 
said. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  171 

"  They  are  coming  now,"  I  urged. 

"  Halt !  Who  goes  there  !  "  came  again  from  the  pursu- 
ing party,  who  were  not  more  than  a  hundred  paces  off,  as 
well  as  could  be  judged  in  the  darkness,  and  again  a  bullet 
or  two  whistled  above  our  heads. 

"  I  entreat  you  !  "  I  said,  taking  his  arm  Xo  urge  him  for- 
ward. 

He  let  me  fairly  drag  him  a  few  steps.  Then  suddenly  he 
seemed  to  awake  as  from  a  dream,  and  with  his  old  voice 
and  old  manner  said  to  me  : 

"  How  the  devil  did  you  come  by  this  ?  Off  with  it !  " 
and  he  flung  down  violently  the  pack  from  my  shoulders. 

"  I  have  carried  it  the  whole  way,"  I  murmured. 

"  Shameful !  "  he  muttered  ;  "  shameful !  But  it  all  comes 
from My  p>oor  boy  !  my  poor  boy  !  " 

The  effect  of  the  spirits  he  had  drunk,  to  deaden  as  far 
as  possible  his  feelings  of  shame,  had  entirely  passed  away. 
He  was  again  all  that  he  could  be  at  his  best  moments,  and  at 
once  my  old  love  for  him  returned.  My  heart  began  to  throb 
with  emotion.     I  was  again  ready  to  give  my  life  for  him. 

"  Let  us  make  haste,"  I  said,  seizing  his  cold  hand.  "  It 
is  high  time,  by  heaven  !  " 

"  They  will  not  venture  any  further  up  here,"  he  replied, 
"  even  if  they  have  a  guide.  One  man  cannot  guide  them 
all.  But  there  is  treachery  at  work.  Did  you  not  say  some- 
thing of  the  sort  to  me } " 

"  Yes ;  and  the  traitors  are  Pinnow  and  Jock  Swart" 

"  Jock  was  the  very  one  that  advised  this  route." 

"  Exactly." 

"  And  the  villain  was  the  first  one  to  make  off." 

"  He  was  in  haste  to  join  his  new  friends." 

We  thus  spoke  in  short  detached  sentences,  while  we  hur- 
ried almost  at  a  run  over  the  open  space,  where  the  darkness, 
which  was  now  intense,  offered  the  only  security — ^but  an 
ample  one,  it  is  true — against  pursuit.  A  light  rain  began 
to  fall ;  we  literally  could  hardly  see  our  hands  before  our 
faces.     Nothing  was  to  be  seen  or  heard  of  our  pursuers. 

"  The  blundering  dolts  came  too  late,"  said  Herr  von  Zeh- 
ren  ;  "  they  clearly  planned  to  catch  us  on  the  narrow  path. 
If  our  rascals  had  not  run  off,  we  might  now  go  on  comfort- 
ably." 


172  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  We  cannot  go  back  to  Zehrendorf,"  I  said. 

"  Why  not  ?  " 

"  If  Jock  Swart  has  betrayed  us,  as  I  would  take  my  oath 
he  has,  they  will  certainly  search  Zehrendorf." 

"  Let  them  try  it  once,"  cried  the  Wild  Zehren  ;  "  I  will 
send  them  home  with  broken  heads.  No,  no  ;  they  will  not 
venture  that,  or  they  would  have  tried  it  long  ago.  At  Zeh- 
rendorf we  are  as  safe  as  in  Abraham's  bosom." 

Just  as  he  said  these  words  there  was  a  sudden  gleam  of 
light  in  the  distance  ahead  of  us,  like  a  faint  flash  of  lightning. 
Before  I  could  frame  any  conjecture  as  to  its  cause,  it  flashed 
out  once  more,  this  time  more  vividly,  and  not  vanishing 
again.  The  light  increased  every  moment,  rising  higher  and 
higher  against  rhe  black  sky  with  a  steadily  widening  glare. 

"  Trantowitz  is  on  fire  !  "  cried  Herr  von  Zehren. 

It  was  not  Trantowitz  ;  it  could  not  be  Trantowitz,  that 
lay  further  to  the  left  and  much  lower.  At  Trantowitz  there 
were  not  the  lofty  trees  whose  summits  I  could  now  distin- 
guish in  the  glow  which  burned  now  red  and  now  yellow,  but 
ever  brighter  and  brighter. 

"  By  heaven  it  is  my  own  house  !  "  said  Herr  von  Zehren, 
He  rushed  forward  for  a  few  paces,  and  then  stopping,  burst 
into  a  loud  laugh.     It  was  a  hideous  mirth. 

"  This  is  a  good  joke,"  he  said ;  "  they  are  burning  the 
old  nest  down.  That  is  smoking  the  old  fox  out  of  his  den 
with  a  vengeance." 

He  seemed  to  think  that  this  also  was  the  work  of  his 
pursuers.  But  I  recalled  the  threats  which  old  Pahlen  had 
uttered  when  I  drove  her  off  the  place.  I  remembered  that 
among  the  rest  she  had  said  something  about  "  the  red  cock 
crowing  from  the  roof." 

But  however  the  fire  had  originated  in  which  the  old 
castle  was  now  rapidly  consuming,  it  could  not  have  occur- 
red at  a  more  critical  moment  for  the  castle's  master. 
Although  we  were  fully  a  mile  distant,  the  flames,  which  now 
towered  above  the  gigantic  trees  of  the  park,  cast  their  light 
to  our  very  feet ;  and  as  the  awful  glare  was  caught  up  and 
reflected  by  the  black  clouds,  now  changing  to  a  lurid  crim- 
son, a  strange  and  fearful  light  spread  over  the  whole  region. 
I  could  clearly  see  Herr  von  Zehren 's  features :  they  were, 
or  appeared  to  me.  of  the  paleness  of  death. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  173 

"  For  God's  sake  let  us  hasten  to  get  away  from  here,"  I 
said  to  him. 

"  The  hunt  is  about  to  begin,"  he  said. 

The  hunt  had  begun  already.  The  pursuing  party,  who 
had  beset  the  narrow  pass,  and  had  probably  no  other 
orders  than  to  cut  us  off  there,  were  now,  by  the  strangest 
accident,  enabled  to  continue  the  pursuit,  and  they  made  the 
best  use  of  the  opportunity.  Spreading  out  like  skirmishers, 
without  venturing  too  dangerously  near  to  the  morass  on 
either  side,  they  pressed  rapidly  on,  rousing  from  their 
hiding-places  the  fugitives,  some  of  whom  were  stealing 
across  the  open  space  to  the  narrow  outlet,  and  others 
crouching  to  the  earth  or  lurking  in  hollows,  in  hope  that 
the  pursuit  would  be  given  over.  Here  and  there  a  flash 
pierced  the  dusky  glow,  and  the  report  of  a  musket  rang  out ; 
and  everywhere  I  saw  the  figures  of  pursuers  and  pursued 
flitting  through  the  uncertain  light,  and  heard  wild  cries  of 
"  Halt !  "  "  Stand  !  "  and  a  loud  halloo  and  laughter  when 
one  was  caught. 

The  blood  seemed  frozen  in  my  veins.  To  be  hunted 
down,  and  shot  down  in  this  fashion,  like  hares  at  a  battue  ! 

"  And  no  arms,"  muttered  Herr  von  Zehren,  through  his 
clenched  teeth. 

"  Here  ! "  cried  I,  tearing  the  pistols  from  my  belt  and 
placing  one  in  his  hand. 

"  Loaded  ? " 

"Yes!" 

"  Now  then,  en  avant!" 

At  a  rapid  run  we  had  nearly  reached  the  outlet-pass,  dis- 
tinguishable to  those  who  knew  the  localities  by  a  dead  oak 
and  a  clump  of  hazels,  when  I  caught  the  gleam  of  musket- 
barrels  above  the  bushes.  It  was  as  I  had  dreaded:  the 
outlet  was  beset. 

"  I  know  another  way,"  whispered  Herr  von  Zehren. 
"  Perhaps  it  will  bear  us,  and  if  not " 

I  did  not  let  him  finish—"  On  !  on  !"  I  cried. 

We  turned  sharply  to  the  right  and  entered  the  tall  rushes 
that  bordered  the  morass.  But  they  had  already  caught 
sight  of  us  ;  there  was  a  cry  of  "  Halt !"  and  shots  were 
fired  at  us  ;  and  some  came  rapidly  running  towards  us. 

"  It  must  be  here,"  said  Herr  von  2:ehren,  parting  the  high 


174  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

rushes  and  plunging  into  them.      I  followed  closely  behind 
him. 

Slowly  and  cautiously,  crouching  almost  to  the  earth,  we 
crept  forward.  It  was  a  desperate  attempt.  More  than 
once  I  sank  to  the  knees  in  the  black  morass.  I  had  made 
up  my  mind,  in  case  I  stuck  fast  in  it,  to  blow  out  my 
brains.  | 

"  We  shall  do  it  yet,"  said  Herr  von  Zehren  in  a  whisper 
to  me  over  his  shoulder.  "  We  have  passed  the  worst  now. 
I  know  it  well.  I  was  here  after  snipe  last  spring,  and  the 
villain  Jock  was  with  me.     So  :  now  we  are  through." 

He  pushed  through  the  rushes,  and  at  the  same  moment 
three  men,  who  had  separated  from  the  rest,  and  must  have 
been  lying  for  some  minutes  in  ambush  a  few  paces  from  the 
outlet,  sprang  upon  us.  The  foremost  man  was  long  Jock 
Swart. 

"  Dog  !"  hissed  Herr  von  Zehren  through  his  clenched 
teeth.  He  raised  his  pistol,  and  long  Jock  fell  to  the  ground 
a  dead  man. 

At  the  same  moment,  I  also  fired,  and  one  of  the  others 
reeled  and  fell  with  a  loud  cry.  The  third  shot  off  his  piece, 
and  ran  at  full  speed  back  to  the  morass.  The  wounded 
man  then  rose  to  his  feet  and  limped  off  with  considerable 
celerity,  but  with  loud  cries  of  pain. 

Herr  von  Zehren,  in  the  meantime,  had  stepped  up  to  the 
fallen  man.  I  sprang  to  his  side,  and  seized  the  man,  who 
was  Ijdng  on  his  face,  by  the  shoulders  to  raise  him  up.  As 
I  lifted  him  his  head  fell  heavily  forward.  A  cold  shudder 
ran  through  me.    "  My  God  !"  I  exclaimed,  "  he  is  dead !" 

"  He  would  have  it  so,"  said  Herr  von  Zehren. 

The  body  of  the  dead  man  slipped  from  my  hand.  I 
arose,  trembling  in  every  limb  ;  my  brain  began  to  swim. 
Here  stood  a  man  with  a  discharged  pistol  in  his  hand  ; 
there  lay  another  like  a  log  upon  the  ground,  and  a  red  glow, 
as  if  from  the  open  gate  of  hell,  fell  upon  them  both  ;  the 
smoke  of  powder  filled  the  air,  and  the  rushes  of  the  morass 
gave  a  hissing  sound  as  of  a  thousand  serpents. 

However  deeply  the  fearful  sight  and  the  feeling  of  hor- 
ror with  which  I  gazed  upon  it,  imprinted  themselves  upon 
my  memory,  I  remained  stupefied  and  aghast  for  but  a  sin- 
gle moment.     Then  all  other  feelings  were  lost  in  the  one 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


175 


thought :  He  must  be  saved ;  he  must  never  fall  into  their 
hands  !  I  believe  I  could  have  caught  up  the  unhappy  man 
in  my  arms  and  borne  him  off,  had  he  resisted ;  but  he 
offered  no  resistance.  I  now  know  that  he  was  not  flying  to 
save  his  life ;  I  now  know  that  he  would  not  have  stirred  one 
step  from  the  spot,  had  he  known  that  I  had  the  leather 
pouch  with  ammunition  for  the  pistols  in  my  pocket ;  but  he 
supposed  that  he  was  weaponless,  and  he  was  resolved  not 
to  be  taken  alive. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

AT  the  edge  of  the  morass,  where  we  now  were,  there  was 
a  hollow,  in  which,  among  the  deeper  marshy  spots 
overgrown  with  long  reed-grass,  there  were  higher 
patches,  like  islands,  covered  with  thick  clumps  of  alders, 
hazels,  arid  willows.  For  any  other,  who  did  not  know 
every  foot  of  this  wild  region,  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  find  any  way  here  ;  but  the  old  huntsman,  who  was  now 
the  fox  upon  whose  track  the  hounds  were  following  hard, 
was  not  for  a  moment  at  fault  either  in  the  direction  to  be 
taken,  or  the  pathless  way  that  was  to  lead  us  through  this 
wilderness.  I  have  never  been  able  to  comprehend  how  a 
man  of  his  age,  hard  pressed  as  he  had  already  been,  and 
wounded  besides,  as  I  presently  learned,  was  able  to  over- 
come such  difficulties  as  nearly  vanquished  my  youthful 
strength.  Whenever,  since,  I  have  seen  an  old  thorough- 
bred, broken  down  under  the  saddle  or  in  harness,  whd  still, 
when  his  generous  blood  is  roused,  by  his  fire,  his  strength, 
and  endurance,  puts  his  younger  rivals  to  shame,  my  mind 
reverts  to  the  Wild  Zehren  in  this  night  of  terror.  He  burst 
through  almost  impenetrable  thickets  as  though  they  were 
standing  grain,  he  bounded  over  wide  chasms  like  a  stag,  and 
did  not  check  his  rapid  course  until  we  came  out  of  the 
hollow  upon  the  dunes. 

Here  we  took  breath,  and  held  a  brief  consultation  which 
way  we  should  next  pursue.     To  our  right  lay  Zanowitz,  and 


176  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

could  we  reach  it  safely,  certainly  some  friend  or  other  would 
help  us  across  the  sea,  or  at  the  worst  I  was  sailor  enough 
to  handle  a  sail-boat  alone  ;  but  it  was  only  too  probable 
that  the  village  and  its  vicinity  were  already  beset  with  sol- 
diers sent  to  capture  any  of  the  fugitives  who  might  seek 
refuge  there.  To  attempt  to  cross  the  heath  between  Zehren- 
dorf  and  Trantowitz  and  reach  the  house  of  some  one  of 
Herr  von  Zehren's  friends,  would  have  been  mere  madness 
now  that  the  whole  sky  was  reddened  with  the  still  increas- 
ing conflagration,  and  the  heath  illuminated  with  a  light  that 
almost  equalled  that  of  day.  But  one  chance  was  left  us  ; 
to  keep  to  the  left  along  the  strand  as  far  as  the  promontory, 
there  ascend  the  chalk-cliff  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ruined 
tower,  and  so  reach  the  beech-wood  of  the  park,  which  was 
but  the  continuation  of  the  forest  which  bordered  the  coast 
for  about  eight  miles.  j 

"  If  I  can  only  get  so  far,"  said  he  ;  "  my  arm  begins  to 
grow  very  painful." 

Now  for  the  first  time  I  learned  that  he  was  wounded  in 
the  arm.  He  had  not  known  it  himself  at  first,  and  then 
supposed  he  had  only  struck  it  against  some  sharp  project- 
ing bough,  until  the  increasing  pain  showed  what  was  really 
the  matter.  I  asked  him  to  let  me  examine  the  wound  \ 
but  he  said  we  had  no  time  for  anything  of  that  sort,  and  1 
had  to  content  myself  with  binding  up  the  arm  as  firmly  as  I 
could  with  his  handkerchief,  which  indeed  did  but  little 
good. 

Here  among  the  dunes  I  remembered  for  the  first  time 
that  I  had  ammunition  in  my  pocket,  and  by  his  direction  I 
reloaded  the  pistols.  A  shudder  came  over  me  when  he 
handed  me  his,  and  I  touched  the  cold  wet  steel.  But  it 
was  not  blood,  though  in  the  red  light  it  looked  like  it :  it  was 
but  the  moisture  from  the  damp  atmosphere  still  heavy  with 
rain. 

We  emerged  from  the  dunes  upon  the  strand,  in  order  to 
proceed  more  rapidly  over  the  hard  sand.  The  light  was 
now,  when  apparently  all  the  buildings  were  involved  in  the 
conflagration,  so  strong  that  a  dull  crimson  glow,  reflected 
from  the  reddened  clouds,  was  thrown  far  out  to  sea.  Even 
the  lofty  and  steep  chalk-cliffs  under  which  we  were  presently 
passing,  looked  down  upon  us  strangely  in  the  strange  light. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  177 

There  seemed  something  unearthly  and  awful  in  it ;  despite 
the  considerable  distance  at  which  we  were,  notwithstanding 
that  hills  and  woods  lay  between,  notwithstanding  that  we 
were  passing  under  the  shelter  of  cliffs  more  than  a  hundred 
feet  high,  the  light  still  reached  us  and  smote  us,  as  if  what 
had  been  done,  had  been  told  by  the  earth  to  the  heavens, 
and  by  the  heavens  to  the  sea  ;  and  earth,  sky,  and  sea  called 
out  to  us — For  you  there  is  no  escape  ? 


:  CHAPTER  XX. 

SOME  feeling  of  this  kind  must  have  been  in  the  breast 
of  the  unhappy  man  at  my  side,  for  he;  said  once  or 
twice,  as  we  clambered  up  the  ravine,  up  which  a  steep 
path  led  between  thick  bushes  from  the  strand  to  the  top  of 
the  cliffs,  "  Thank  God,  it  is  dark  here  at  least !  " 

During  the  ascent  he  had  several  times  complained  of  his 
arm,  the  pain  of  which  had  now  grown  intolerable,  and  at 
last  he  was  scarcely  able  to  move  forward,  although  I  sup- 
ported him  as  well  as  I  could.  I  hop6d  that  when  we  reached 
the  top,  and  he  had  rested  a  little,  the  strength  of  which  he 
had  already  given  such  extraordinary  proof,  would  return ; 
but  no  sooner  had  we  gained  the  plateau  than  he  sank  faint- 
ing into  my  arms.  True,  he  instantly  recovered  and  declared 
that  it  was  but  a  momentary  weakness,  and  that  the  attack 
was  over ;  but  still  he  could  hardly  stand,  and  I  was  glad 
when  I  succeeded  at  last  in  getting  him  to  the  ruin,  where 
an  excavation,  half  filled  with  rubbish,  between  the  walls, 
offered  at  least  some  protection  from  the  east  wind,  which 
blew  sharp  and  bitter  cold  over  the  ridge. 

Here  I  begged  him  to  sit  down,  while  I  descended  the 
ravine,  where  about  half-way  from  die  top  there  was  a  tolera- 
bly abundant  spring,  at  which  we  had  made  a  short  pause  in 
our  ascent,  to  get  him  some  water,  as  he  complained  of  a 
burning  thirst.  Fortunately,  on  account  of  the  rain,  I  had 
put  on  in  the  morning  the  oil-skin  hat  which  I  had  on  at  my 
arrival  at  Zehrendorf,  but  had  not  since  worn,  as  Constance 
8* 


178  Hammer  and  Anvil.  I 

expressed  such  a  dislike  to  it.  This  hat  now  served  me  for 
a  bucket,  and  I  was  glad  when  I  succeeded  with  some  diffi- 
culty in  filling  it  to  the  brim.  I  hurried  back  as  fast  as  I  was 
able  without  spilling  the  precious  fluid,  full  of  anxiety  for  the 
man  to  whom  my  heart  drew  me  all  the  more  powerfully,  as 
calamity  smote  him  with  such  terrible  blows.  What  would 
become  of  him  if  he  were  not  able  soon  to  continue  the 
flight  t  After  what  had  happened  at  the  edge  of  the  morass, 
no  exertion  would  be  spared  to  take  us  ;  and  that  an  amply 
sufficient  force  could  be  employed,  was  "but  too  certain.  The 
second  pass  had  been  beset  by  soldiers  ;  that  I  had  plainly 
seen.  How  long  a  time  would  elapse  ere  they  came  up 
here  ?  If  we  were  to  escape,  we  must  be  at  least  six  or  eight 
miles  from  here  before  morning,  and  I  thought  with  a  shud- 
der how  he  had  twice  fainted  in  my  arms,  and  the  wild  words 
in  which  he  had  asked  for  water  "that  was  not  burning  :  it 
must  not  be  burning. "  Perhaps  he  might  revive  after  quench- 
ing his  thirst.  I  had  so  firm  a  faith  in  the  inexhaustibility 
of  his  strength. 

Thus  I  tried  to  encourage  myself  as  I  hastened  carefully 
to  the  ruin  with  the  water  in  my  hat,  and  from  dread  of 
stumbling  scarcely  cast  a  glance  in  the  direction  of  the  beech- 
wood,  over  which  the  flames  were  still  glowing.  While  still 
at  some  distance,  I  thought  I  heard  Herr  von  Zehren's  voice 
calling  my  name,  then  resounded  a  shrill  laugh,  and  as  I 
rushed  up  in  terror,  I  saw  the  unhappy  man  standing  at  the 
entrance  to  the  excavation,  his  face  turned  to  the  fire,  gestic- 
ulating wildly  with  his  uninjured  arm,  and  now  pouring  out 
execrations,  now  bursting  into  frenzied  laughter,  or  calling 
for  water  "  that  was  not  burning."  I  drew  him  in  deeper 
between  the  walls,  and  made  him  a  kind  of  bed  of  the  heath 
that  grew  thickly  around,  over  which  I  spread  my  coat. 
Upon  recovering  from  a  brief  swoon  into  which  he  again 
fell,  he  drank  deeply  of  the  water,  and  then  thanked  me  in 
a  voice  the  gentle  tone  of  which  singularly  contrasted  with 
his  previous  shrill  vociferations,  and  deeply  moved  me. 

"  I  fancied,"  he  said,  "  that  you  too  had  abandoned  me, 
and  I  must  perish  miserably  here  like  a  wounded  stag.  Is 
it  not  strange  that  the  last  Zehren  who  is  worthy  of  the 
name,  here,  from  the  ancient  fortress  of  his  ancestors,  now 
a  pile  of  ruins,  must  watch  the  house  that  later  generations 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  179 

built,  consumed  by  the  flames  ?  How  did  it  take  fire  ? 
What  do  you  suppose  ?  I  have  many  other  questions  to  ask 
you,  but  I  feel  so  strangely — such  strange  fancies  pass 
through  my  head.  I  never  felt  thus  before  ;  and  my  arm  too 
is  very  painful.  I  think  it  is  all  over  with  the  Wild  Zehren — ■ 
all  over,  all  over  !  Let  me  lie  here,  George,  and  die  quietly. 
How  long  will  it  be  before  the  fire  eats  its  way  through  the 
subterranean  passage,  and  the  old  Zehrenburg  flies  into  the 
air  ? " 

Thus  reason  and  madness  contended  in  his  fevered  brain. 
Now  he  spoke  connectedly  and  intelligently  of  what  was 
next  to  be  done,  as  soon  as  he  had  recovered  his  strength  a 
little,  and  then  he  suddenly  saw  Jock  Swart  lying  before  him 
on  the  ground,  and  again  it  was  not  Jock  but  Alfonso,  the 
brother  of  his  wife,  whose  heart  his  sword  had  pierced.  And 
yet — and  I  have  often  reflected  upon  this,  while  pondering 
over  the  singular  character  of  this  man — these  terrible  mem- 
ories recurring  in  his  delirium  were  accompanied  with  no 
words  that  indicated  the  slightest  remorse.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  had  been  rightly  dealt  with,  and  so  should  it  be 
with  all  that  ventured  to  resist  his  wilL  If  they  had  burned 
his  house,  all  castles  and  villages  for  leagues  around  should 
be  ravaged  by  the  flames.  He  would  see  if  he  could  not 
punish  his  vassals  as  he  thought  fit,  if  they  dared  to  rise  in 
revolt.  He  would  chastise  them  until  they  howled  for 
mercy.  Such  utterances  of  his  haughty  spirit,  exalted  to 
madness  by  the  fever  that  was  raging  in  his  veins,  contrasted 
frightfully  with  the  utter  wretchedness  of  our  position. 
While  in  fancy  he  was  charging  through  burning  towns  that 
his  wrath  had  given  to  the  flames,  his  frame  was  shivering 
with  ague,  and  his  teeth  chattered  audibly.  The  cold,  which 
grew  ever  keener  towards  daybreak,  seemed  to  pierce  to  my 
marrow ;  and  as  often  as  the  unhappy  man,  whose  head  rested 
upon  my  lap,  ceased  for  a  while  his  ravings,  my  head  sank 
forwards  or  sideways  to  the  cold  wall  against  which  I  was 
leaning ;  and  with  ever  more  painful  exertions  I  strove 
against  the  weariness  which  oppressed  me  with  leaden 
weight.  What  would  become  of  us  if  my  strength  gave  way? 
Indeed  what  would  become  of  us  as  it  was  ?  We  could  not 
remain  thus.  I  was  afraid  that  he  would  die  in  my  arms  if  I 
could  get  no  assistance.     And  yet  how  could  I  go  for  help 


i8o  Hammer  and  AnviL 

without  the  risk  of  abandoning  hinn  to  his  pursuers  ?  And 
how  could  I  leave  him  now,  when  he  was  wanting  to  dash 
his  head  to  pieces  against  the  stones,  and  was  craving  to 
drink  up  the  sea  to  assuage  his  consuming  thirst  ? 

During  the  night  I  had  several  times  gone  to  the  spring 
for  water,  and  when  I  brought  it  he  was  always  very  grate- 
ful. Indeed,  towards  daybreak  he  grew  much  quieter,  so 
that  I  indulged  the  hope  that  after  all  we  should  soon  be 
able  to  get  away.  At  last,  overcome  by  exhaustion,  I  fell 
asleep,  and  must  have  slept  some  time,  for  the  dawn  was 
already  glimmering  when  I  was  awakened  by  the  touch  of  a 
hand  on  my  shoulder.  Herr  von  Zehren  stood  before  me  ; 
I  looked  at  him  with  horror.  Now  I  saw  what  he  had  suf- 
fered in  that  fearful  night.  His  healthy  bronzed  face  was 
of  a  clayey  pallor,  his  large  brilliant  eyes  were  dull  and 
deeply  sunk  in  their  sockets,  his  beard  dishevelled,  his  lips 
white,  and  his  clothes  torn  and  covered  with  dirt  and  blood. 
It  was  no  longer  the  man  that  I  had  known,  but  more  like  a 
spectre. 

A  faint  smile  played  about  his  pale  lips,  and  there  was  a 
touch  of  the  old  vivacity  in  "the  tone  of  his  voice,  as  he  said  : 
"  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  awaken  you,  my  poor  boy,  but  it  is 
high  time." 

I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  put  on  my  coat,  which  he  had 
carefully  laid  over  my  shoulders. 

"  That  is,  it  is  high  time  for  you,"  he  added.  | 

"  How  so  ?  "  I  asked,  in  alarm. 

"■  I  should  not  get  far,"  he  replied,  with  a  sad  smile  ;  "  I 
just  now  made  a  little  trial ;  but  it  is  impossible." 

And  he  seated  himself  on  a  projecting  piece  of  the  wall, 
and  leaned  his  head  upon  his  hand. 

"  Then  I  also  stay,"  I  said.  ! 

"  They  will  soon  follow  us  up  here." 

"  So  much  the  more  reason  for  my  remaining." 

He  raised  his  head. 

"  You  are  a  generous  fool,"  he  said,  with  a  melancholy 
smile  ;  "  one  of  those  that  remain  anvils  all  their  life  long. 
What  advantage  in  the  world  could  it  be  to  me,  that  they 
caught  you  with  me  here  1  And  why  should  you  give  up, 
and  let  yourself  be  caught.?  Are  you  brought  down  to  noth- 
ing, and  less  than  nothing?     Are  you  an  old  wounded  fox, 


Itt 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  i8i 

burnt  out  of  his  den  and  with  the  hounds  on  his  track?  Go, 
and  do  not  make  me  entreat  you  any  more,  for  it  hurts  me 
to  talk.     Good-by !  " 

He  reached  me  an  ice-cold,  trembling  hand,  which  I 
pressed  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  and  said : 

"  How  can  you  ask  it  of  me  ?  I  were  the  vilest  wretch 
alive  to  leave  you  thus.     Happen  what  may,  I  remain." 

"  It  is  my  will  that  you  leave  me — I  command  you." 

"  You  cannot — ^you  must  yourself  feel  that  you  cannot. 
You  cannot  command  me  to  cover  myself  with  disgrace." 

"  Well  then,"  said  he,  "  I  will  make  a  confession  to  you. 
It  is  true  that  it  so  happens  that  I  cannot  get  away ;  but 
were  I  in  condition  to  escape,  I  would  not  and  will  not  do 
it.  I  will  not  have  a  hue  and  cry  raised  after  me,  and  pla- 
cards posted  as  if  I  were  a  vagabond  or  common  criminal  to 
be  hunted  through  the  land.  I  will  await  their  coming  here 
— here  where  my  ancestors  beat  back  so  many  an  attack  of 
the  shopkeepers.  I  will  defend  myself  to  the  last ;  they  shall 
not  take  me  from  this  place  alive.  I  do  not  know  what  I 
might  do,  if  I  were  altogether  alone  in  the  world.  Probably 
this  would  then  not  have  happened.  I  have  paid  dearly  for 
the  folly  of  trying  to  help  my  brother  in  his  distress.  And 
then  I  have  a  daughter ;  I  do  not  love  her,  nor  she  me ;  but 
for  this  very  reason  she  shall  not  be  able  to  say  that  her 
father  was  a  coward,  who  did  not  know  when  it  was  time  to 
die." 

"  Do  not  think  of  your  daughter !  "  I  cried,  losing  all  my 
self-control.  "  She  has  rent  the  single  tie  by  which  you  were 
still  bound  to  her."  And  briefly  and  in  hurried  words  I 
told  him  of  Constance's  flight. 

My  intention  was  to  tear  away  at  all  costs  every  pretext 
that  he  might  allege  for  not  doing  what  he  considered  un- 
worthy a  Zehren.  It  was  most  inconsiderate  in  me  to  make 
such  a  disclosure  to  him  at  such  a  moment ;  but  my  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  was  then  very  slight,  and  my  faculties 
were  confused  by  the  anguish  of  the  last  thirty-six  hours,  and 
my  fear  and  distress  for  the  unhappy  man  at  my  side. 

And  it  seemed  that  my  design  had  succeeded.  He  arose, 
as  soon  as  I  had  finished  my  hurried  recital,  and  calmly 
said: 

"  Is   it  then   so  with  me  ?     Am  I  a  vagabond,  and  my 


1 82  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

daughter  dishonored  ?  My  daughter  a  harlot,  who  throws 
herself  into  the  arms  of  the  very  man  whose  hand  she  cannot 
touch  without  dishonoring  me  ?  Then  may  I  well  do  what 
others  would  do  in  my  place.  But  before  we  set  out,  get  me 
another  draught  of  water,  George.  It  will  refresh  me  ;  and 
I  must  not  fail  soon  again.     Make  haste  ! " 

1  caught  up  the  hat,  joyful  that  I  had  at  last  persuaded 
him.  When  I  had  gone  a  few  paces  he  called  me  back 
again. 

"  Do  not  mind  my  giving  you  so  much  trouble,  George. 
Take  my  thanks  for  all." 

"  How  can  you  speak  so  ?  "  I  said.  "  Step  back  out  of 
the  cold  wind ;  I  shall  be  back  in  five  minutes." 

I  started  off  at  a  run.  There  was  no  time  to  be  lost ; 
streak  after  streak  of  pale  light  was  appearing  in  the  east ; 
in  half  an  hour  the  sun  would  rise.  I  had  hoped  that  by 
this  time  we  would  have  been  leagues  away  in  the  depth  of 
the  forest. 

The  spring  in  the  ravine  was  soon  reached,  but  it  gave  me 
some  trouble  to  fill  the  hat.  In  the  night  I  had  trampled  the 
earth  around  it,  and  stones  had  rolled  in,  which  nearly  blocked 
it  up.  While  I  was  stooping  over  it  and  clearing  away  the 
obstructions,  a  dull  report  of  fire-arms  reached  my  ear.  I 
started  and  felt  involuntarily  for  the  pistol  which  was  still  in 
my  belt.  The  other  I  had  left  with  him.  Was  it  possible  ? 
Could  it  be  ?     He  had  sent  me  away  ! 

I  could  not  wait  for  the  water  ;  I  was  irresistibly  impelled 
to  hasten  back.  Like  a  hunted  stag  I  sprang  up  the  side  of 
the  ravine,  and  bounded  over  the  plateau  to  the  ruin.         ; 

All  was  over. 

Upon  the  very  spot  where  I  had  parted  from  him,  where 
I  had  last  pressed  his  hand,  he  had  shot  himself.  The 
smoke  of  the  powder  was  still  floating  in  the  excavation. 
The  pistol  lay  beside  him  ;  his  head  had  fallen  sideways 
against  the  wall.  He  breathed  no  more — he  was  quite  dead. 
The  Wild  Zehren  knew  where  a  bullet  must  strike  if  the 
wound  was  to  be  mortal. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


183 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

I  WAS  still  sitting,  stupefied  and  incapable  of  reflection, 
by  the  dead  man,  when  the  first  rays  of  the  sun,  which 
rose  with  tremulous  lustre  over  the  sea,  fell  upon  his 
pallid  face.  A  shudder  ran  through  me.  I  arose  and  stood 
trembling  in  every  limb.  Then  I  ran,  as  fast  as  my  tottering 
feet  would  bear  me,  along  the  path  that  descended  from  the 
ruin  to  the  beech-wood.  I  could  not  now  say  what  my  real 
intention  was.  Did  I  simply  wish  to  flee  from  this  place  of 
terror,  from  the  presence  of  the  corpse  whose  glazed  eyes 
were  fixed  upon  the  rising  sun  ?  Did  I  wish  to  get  assist- 
ance ?  Did  1  design  to  carry  out  alone  the  plan  of  escape  I 
had  formed  for  both,  and  thus  save  myself?  I  do  not  now 
know. 

I  reached  the  park  and  the  tarn,  the  water  of  which  looked 
blackly  through  the  yellow  leaves  that  yesterday's  storm  had 
swept  from  the  trees.  In  this  water  had  drowned  herself 
the  wife  of  the  man  who  had  borne  her  from  her  far-off  home 
over  her  brother's  corpse,  and  who  was  now  lying  dead  in 
the  ruins  of  the  castle  of  his  forefathers.  Their  daughter 
had  thrown  herself  into  the  arms  of  a  profligate,  after  deceiv- 
ing her  father,  and  playing  a  shameful  game  with  me. 
This  all  came  at  once  into  ray  mind  like  a  hideous  picture 
seen  in  the  black  mirror  of  the  tarn.  As  if  some  pitiless  god 
had  rent  away  the  veil  from  the  pandemonium  which  to  my 
blinded  eyes  had  seemed  a  paradise,  I  saw  at  a  glance  the 
two  last  months  of  my  life,  and  what  they  really  were.  I 
felt  a  nameless  horror,  less,  I  think,  of  myself,  than  of  a 
world  where  such  things  had  been,  where  such  things  could 
be.  If  it  be  true  that  nearly  every  man  at  some  time  in  his 
life  is  led  or  driven  by  malignant  demons  to  the  verge  of 
madness,  this  moment  had  come  for  me.  I  felt  an  almost 
irresistible  impulse  to  throw  myself  into  the  black  water 
which  legend  represented  to  be  of  unfathomable  depth.  I 
do  not  know  what  I  might  have  done,  had  I  not  at  this  mo- 
ment heard  the  voices  of  men  who  were  coming  down  the 
path  that  led  from  the  park.  The  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, which  is  not  easily  extinguished  in  a  youth  of  nineteen, 
suddenly  awaked  within  me.     I  would  not  fall  into  the  hands 


184  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

of  those  whom  I  had  been  since  the  previous  evening  making 
such  prodigious  exertions  to  escape.  In  a  bound  I  sprang 
up  the  bank  that  surrounded  the  tarn,  leapt  down  on  the 
other  side,  and  then  lay  still,  buried  in  the  thick  bushes  and 
fallen  leaves,  to  let  them  pass  before  recommencing  my  flight. 
In  a  minute  more  they  were  at  the  spot  I  had  left.  They 
stopped  here,  where  the  path  branched  off  towards  the  ruin, 
and  deliberated.  "  This  must  be  the  way,"  said  one.  "Of 
course  ;  there  is  no  other,  you  fool,"  said  another.  "  For- 
ward !"  cried  a  third  voice,  apparently  belonging  to  the  leader 
of  the  party,  "  or  the  lieutenant  will  get  there  from  the 
beach  sooner  than  we.     Forward  !" 

The  patrol  ascended  the  path  towards  the  ruin,  and  I 
cautiously  raised  my  head  and  saw  them  disappearing  among 
the  trees.  When  I  thought  them  at  a  sufficient  distance,  I 
arose,  and  struck  deeper  into  the  wood.  The  impulse  to 
self-destruction  had  passed ;  I  had  but  one  desire,  to  save 
myself;  and  the  almost  miraculous  manner  in  which  I  had 
just  avoided  a  peril  from  which  there  seemed  no  escape, 
filled  me  with  new  hope,  as  a  losing  player  feels  at  the  first 
lucky  cast. 

When  we  boys  played  "  robbers  and  soldiers  "  in  the  fir- 
wood  around  my  native  town,  I  had  always  managed  to  be 
of  the  robber  party,  and  they  invariably  chose  me  their  cap- 
tain. The  duties  of  this  office  I  had  always  so  discharged 
that  at  last  none  were  willing  to  take  the  part  of  soldiers. 
The  boast  that  I  had  so  often  made  in  our  merry  sports,  that 
no  one  could  catch  me  unless  I  allowed  myself  to  be  caught, 
was  now  to  be  tested  in  deadly  earnest.  Unfortunately  just 
now,  when  life  and  liberty  were  at  stake,  the  most  important 
thing  of  all  was  wanting,  the  fresh  and  inexhaustible  strength 
that  carried  me  through  my  boyish  exploits,  and  which  now 
by  reason  of  the  terrible  mental  emotions  of  the  last  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  the  excessive  physical  exertion  I  had  under- 
gone, was  well-nigh  broken  down.  To  my  other  sufferings, 
I  was  tormented  with  gnawing  hunger  and  burning  thirst. 
Keeping  always  in  the  thickest  of  the  forest,  I  came  upon 
no  spring  nor  pool  of  water.  The  loose  soil  had  long  since 
absorbed  the  rain  of  the  previous  day,  and  the  slight  mois- 
ture that  I  was  able  to  suck  from  the '  dead  leaves  only 
increased  my  sufferings. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  185 

My  intention  had  been  to  traverse  the  forest,  which  bor- 
dered the  coast  for  about  eight  miles,  in  its  whole  length,  in 
order  to  place  as  much  distance  as  possible  between  me  and 
my  pursuers,  before  I  made  the  attempt  to  leave  the  island 
at  any  point  to  which  chance  might  conduct  me.  I  had 
trusted  that  I  should  be  able  to  accomplish  this  distance  at 
the  latest  by  noon  ;  but  I  was  compelled  to  admit  to  myself 
that  in  the  condition  in  which  I  was,  and  which  grew  worse 
every  minute,  this  was  no  longer  to  be  thought  of  I  had 
also  formed  no  just  conception  of  the  obstacles  that  impeded 
me.  I  had  often  before  been  in  this  forest,  but  only  for 
short  distances,  and  I  had  never  been  compelled  to  keep  to 
a  certain  direction,  and  at  the  same  time  anxiously  guard 
against  every  possibility  of  being  seen.  But  now,  unless  I 
made  long  detours,  I  had  to  break  through  dense  thickets 
scarcely  penetrable  even  by  the  deer,  or  again  take  a  circuit 
which  took  me  far  out  of  the  way,  to  avoid  some  open  space 
where  there  was  no  sufficient  concealment.  Then  I  had  to 
bury  myself  in  leaves  and  bushes  while  I  listened  to  discover 
whether  some  sound  that  I  heard  really  proceeded  from 
human  voices,  and  to  wait  thus  until  all  was  again  silent. 
More  than  once  I  came  upon  forest-paths,  where  double  cau- 
tion was  necessary  ;  and  with  all  I  felt  my  strength  constantly 
diminishing,  and  looked  forward  with  terror  to  the  moment 
when  it  should  fail  me  altogether,  and  I  should  sink,  proba- 
bly to  rise  no  more.  And  to  lie  here  dead,  with  wide-open, 
glazed  eyes,  like  what  I  had  seen — ^by  this  time  they  had 
probably  found  him  and  carried  him  down,  and  then  in  some 
fashion  or  other  they  must  bury  him — ^but  how  long  would  I 
lie  here  in  the  depth  of  the  forest  before  I  was  found,  unless 
it  were  by  the  foxes  ? 

But  why  did  I  fly,  after  all  ?  What  had  I  then  done  to 
deserve  such  extremity  of  punishment  ?  What  could  they  do 
to  me  worse  than  the  torments  I  was  now  suffering  ?  And 
what  was  this  ?  Here  was  a  path  that  in  half  an  hour  would 
bring  me  out  of  the  forest.  Possibly  I  might  then  at  once 
come  upon  the  soldiers.  So  much  the  better ;  then  there 
would  be  an  end  of  it. 

And  I  really  went  some  distance  along  the  path,  but  sud- 
denly I  stopped  again.  My  father  !  what  would  he  say  when 
he  saw  me  led  by  soldiers  through  the  town,  and  the  street- 


i86  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

boys  shouting  after  me  ?  No,  no  ;  I  could  never  bring  that 
upon  him  ;  better  that  the  foxes  should  devour  me  than 
that!^ 

I  turned  again  into  the  forest,  but  ever  more  agonizing 
grew  the  strain  upon  my  fast-failing  powers.  My  knees  tot- 
tered ;  the  cold  sweat  ran  from  my  face  ;  more  than  once  I 
had  to  stop  and  lean  against  a  tree,  because  all  became  dark 
before  my  eyes,  and  I  feared  that  I  should  faint.  Thus  I 
dragged  myself  for  perhaps  half  an  hour  more — it  was  by 
my  calculation  about  two  in  the  afternoon — when  my  long 
agony  found  an  end.  In  the  edge  of  a  small  clearing  which 
I  had  just  reached,  stood  a  little  hut,  lightly  constructed  of 
branches  and  mats  of  straw,  looking  almost  like  a  dog-ken- 
nel, and  which  probably  had  been  built  by  wood-cutters  or 
poachers.  I  crawled  in,  buried  myself  in  the  straw  and 
leaves  with  which  the  floor  of  the  hut  was  deeply  heaped, 
and  which  happily  were  tolerably  dry,  and  fell  at  once  into  a 
sleep  which  was  almost  as  heavy  as  death. 

When  I  awaked  it  was  quite  dark,  and  it  was  some  time 
ere  I  could  recollect  where  I  was  and  what  had  happened ; 
but  at  last  I  recovered  full  consciousness  of  my  desperate 
situation.  I  crept  out  of  the  hut  with  great  difficulty,  for  my 
limbs  felt  as  if  they  were  broken,  and  the  first  steps  I  took 
gave  me  excruciating  pain.  This,  however,  presently  passed 
off.  My  sleep  had  somewhat  refreshed  me ;  but  my  hunger, 
the  cravings  of  which  had  aroused  me,  was  now  so  torturing 
that  I  resolved  to  appease  it  at  every  hazard,  especially  as 
I  felt  that  unless  this  was  done,  I  must  of  necessity  soon 
give  way  again.  But  how  was  this  to  be  done  ?  At  last  I 
hit  upon  a  plan  to  which  nothing  but  my  desperation  could 
have  prompted  me.  I  determined  to  keep  to  the  left  through 
the  woods,  until  I  reached  the  open  country,  which  I  calcu- 
lated must  happen  in  about  an  hour.  I  would  then  strike 
for  the  nearest  farm-house,  and  there  either  by  fair  means  or 
foul  get  something  to  appease  my  hunger,  and  perhaps  also 
a  supply  for  the  next  day. 

Accident  seemed  to  favor  the  execution  of  this  plan.  In 
a  few  minutes  I  came  upon  a  sort  of  road,  which  I  followed, 
although  it  did  not  run  in  the  direction  that  I  desired. 
But  how  great  was  my  astonishment  and  my  alarm,  as,  in  far 
less  time  than  I  had  hoped,  I  emerged  from  the  woods,  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


187 


by  the  starlight  distinguished  a  region  of  country  which  I 
could  not  by  any  possibility  mistake.  There  on  the  right 
were  the  cott^es  belonging  to  Herr  von  Granow's  estate, 
Melchow ;  further  on,  embosomed  in  stately  trees,  was  the 
proprietor's  house,  and  from  a  slight  eminence  rose  the 
white  steeple  of  the  new  village  church.  Further  to  the  left, 
lower  down  in  the  valley,  lay  Trantowitz,  and  still  further, 
but  on  higher  ground,  had  Zehrendorf  stood.  Indeed,  as  if 
to  leave  me  not  an  instant  of  doubt  that  I  had  got  back  to 
the  old  well-known  district  of  country,  there  suddenly  sprang 
from  the  immense  pile  of  ruins  where  the  castle  had  stood, 
a  flame  so  high  and  so  vivid  that  the  steeple  of  Melchow 
church  glowed  with  rosy  light.  But  there  must  either  have 
been  little  fuel  left  for  the  fire,  or  else  in  the  day  there  had 
been  ample  provision  made  for  its  extinction,  for  the  flames 
sank  again  immediately,  the  bright  light  vanished,  and  there 
only  remained  a  feeble  glow,  as  from  the  embers  of  a  burnt 
brush-heap  in  a  field. 

So  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  my  strength,  I  had  wandered 
about  the  whole  day  in  a  circle,  and  now  at  night-fall  found 
myself  not  far  from  the  spot  from  which  I  had  started  in  the 
morning.  This  was  not  very  consolatory,  but  it  was  ridicu- 
lous ;  and  I  laughed — not  very  loud  nor  cheerfully,  it  is 
true,  but  still  genuine  laughter.  And  at  the  same  moment 
the  fancy  seized  me  that  perhaps  my  good  genius  had  led  me 
here  against  my  wishes.  Where  would  I  be  less  likely  to  be 
looked  for  than  exactly  here  ?  Where  had  I  better  friends 
than  here  at  Trantowitz,  for  example,  where  everybody  at 
the  house  and  in  the  village*  knew  me ;  where  I  could  knock 
at  any  door  and  be  sure  to  find  help  and  reliefl  Besides,  the 
circumstance  that  during  the  entire  day  I  had  met  no  human 
creature,  to  a  certain  extent  assured  me  that  the  pursuit 
towards  the  last  had  not  been  so  hot,  and  finally  I  was  at  the 
point  of  starvation,  and  had  no  choice  left  me,  so  I  pushed 
on,  almost  carelessly,  over  the  fields  to  Trantowitz,  for  the 
first  time  since  we  had  separated,  thinking  seriously  of  the 
good  Hans,  and  wondering  what  had  become  of  him.  Had 
he  overtaken  the  fugitives  ?  Had  there  been  a  scene,  as  in 
that  night  when  the  Wild  Zehren  was  pursued  and  overtaken 
by  the  brother  of  his  mistress,  and  their  blades  crossed  in 
the  uncertain  light  of  the  Spanish  stars  ?    Tlad  blood  flowed 


1 88  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

for  the  daughter,  as  well  as  for  the  mother  ?  Had  Hans  fal- 
len a  victim  in  his  bad  cause,  or  had  he  been  victorious?  If 
so,  what  then  ?  Were  the  officers  of  justice  after  him  as 
they  were  after  me  ?  Had  they  caught  him,  perhaps  red- 
handed  ?     Was  he  now  sitting  behind  bolts  and  bars  ? 

I  grew  very  sad  at  heart  as  this  idea  struck  me.  Hans 
behind  bolts  and  bars  was  a  melancholy  picture — one  could 
as  well  fancy  a  polar  bear  fireman  on  a  steamer. 

Without  observing  where  I  was  going,  I  had  approached 
the  house  nearer  than  was  necessary  to  reach  the  village. 
From  the  field  a  path  led  across  a  dry  ditch  into  a  wilder- 
ness of  about  two  acres  extent,  of  potatoe,  cabbage,  and 
salad-beds,  blackberry  thickets,  and  stunted  fruit-trees,  which 
Hans,  by  a  singular  delusion,  called  his  garden,  and  prized 
highly  because  he  here  in  winter  shot  the  most  hares  from 
his  chamber-window.  Towards  this  chamber,  famous  in  all 
the  country  round,  my  eyes  involuntarily  turned,  and  to  my 
great  astonishment  I  perceived  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  in  it. 
The  window  was  open,  and  the  light,  as  I  discovered  upon  a 
nearer  approach,  came  from  the  sitting-room,  the  door  be- 
tween the  two  not  being  closed.  I  listened,  and  heard  the 
clatter  of  a  knife  and  fork.  Could  Hans  be  at  home  again 
already.?  I  could  not  resist  the  temptation,  clambered 
through  the  window  into  the  chamber,  looked  through  the 
door,  and  there  sat  Hans,  just  as  I  had  seen  him  the  previ- 
ous morning,  behind  a  couple  of  bottles  and  an  immense 
ham,  from  which  he  raised  his  blue  eyes  at  my  entrance  and 
stared  at  me  with  a  look  of  astonishment  rather  than  alarm. 

"  Good  evening,  Herr  von  Trantow,"  I  said.  |  , 

I  was  about  to  say  more,  and  explain  how  I  had  come,  but 
involuntarily  I  clutched  a  just-opened  bottle  with  shaking 
hand,  and  drained  it  before  I  set  it  down.  Hans  gave  a 
nod  of  approval  at  my  prompt  recourse  to  his  universal  spe- 
cific. Then  he  arose  without  a  word,  went  out  and  closed 
the  shutters  of  both  windows,  came  in  and  bolted  the  door, 
took  a  seat  opposite  to  me,  lighted  a  cigar,  and  waited  in 
silence  until  my  ravenous  hunger  was  appeased  sufficiently 
to  allow  me  to  converse. 

"  Suppose  in  the  meantime  you  tell  me  what  happened  to 
you,"  I  said,  without  raising  my  eyes  from  my  plate. 

Hans  had  but  little  to  tell,  and  told  that  little  in  the  fewest 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  189 

possible  words.  He  had  galloped  a  couple  of  miles  or  so 
along  the  road  to  Fahrdorf— the  only  one  which  the  fugitives 
could  possibly  have  taken — ^when  he  observed  that  his  horse, 
who  had  so  far  exhibited  no  signs  of  fatigue,  began  to  fail. 
After  riding  another  mile  at  a  more  moderate  pace,  he  was 
convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  continuing  the  pursuit. 
"  The  road  was  very  bad,"  Hans  said ;  "  I  am  a  heavy  rider, 
and  the  poor  brute  had  probably  had  neither  feed  nor  water 
for  twenty-four  hours."  So  he  dismounted  and  led  the  horse 
at  a  walk  the  nearest  way  to  Trantowitz,  where  he  arrived 
safely  at  nightfall.  "  By  the  time  I  had  saddled  my  Wodan 
and  ridden  to  Fahrdorf,"  he  said,  "  they  were  far  away. 
And  then — it  is  always  the  way  with  me  that  I  can  never 

manage  to  do  what  other  men  would  do  in  my  place  ;  and " 

Here  he  drained  his  glass,  refilled  it,  leaned  back  in  his 
chair,  and  enveloped  himself  in  a  cloud  of  smoke. 

The  good  Hans !  he  had  meant  all  for  the  best — even  his 
plan  of  smashing  the  skull  of  our  happy  rival.  How  could 
he  help  it  if  on  this  occasion,  as  so  often  before — always  in 
his  life  indeed — he  rode  a  slow  horse  ?  He  could  not 
founder  the  animal  in  a  cause  which  really  did  not  concern 
it  in  the  least. 

About  eight  o'clock,  while  he  was  sitting  in  his  room,  he 
saw  the  light  of  the  fire,  and  saddled  Wodan  and  hurried  to 
it,  followed  by  all  his  wagons.  Men  came  over  with  wagons 
and  fire-engines  from  the  other  estates  ;  but  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  save  anything ;  old  Pahlen,  who  no  doubt  had  no 
difficulty  in  eluding  the  vigilance  of  the  stupid  stable-boy, 
had  done  the  work  too  well — the  flames  burst  from  all  parts 
of  the  building  at  once.  "  I  rode  home,"  he  went  on,  "  and 
went  to  bed,  and  waked  up  this  morning.  I  don't  know 
why,  I  had  much  rather  never  have  awaked  again." 

Poor  Hans  ! 

This  morning,  for  the  first  time,  he  had  learned  from  his 
men  what  had  happened  ;  how  the  night  before,  the  officers 
of  the  customs,  with  the  assistance  of  half  a  company  of 
soldiers,  had  hunted  down  the  smugglers ;  and  that  they  had 
caught  four  or  five,  who  would  all  be  hung.  And  a  soldier 
had  sunk  in  the  morass,  one  of  the  custom-house  men  had 
been  wounded,  and  Jock  Swart  shot  dead.  Herr  von  Zehren 
had  been  found  dead  this  morning  at  the  ruin.     That  it  was 


I  go  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

a  lucky  thing  for  him  not  to  have  lived  to  learn  that  his 
daughter  had  run  away,  and  that  the  old  Pahlen,  whom  the 
stable-boy  Fritz  and  Christian  Halterman  had  caught  in  the 
act,  had  set  fire  to  his  castle  and  burned  it  to  the  ground. 
And  they  would  have  hanged  him,  just  as  they  meant  to  hang 
George  Hartwig,  the  son  of  customs-accountant  Hartwig  at 
Uselin,  who  had  been  the  captain  of  the  smugglers,  as  soon 
as  they  caught  him. 

Hans  filled  my  glass  again,  and  invited  me  by  an  expres- 
sive look  to  empty  it  at  once,  as  if  so  I  could  best  afford  him 
the  consolatory  assurance  that  they  had  not  hanged  me  so 
far. 

Now  it  was  my  turn  to  relate.  Hans  listened,  silently 
smoking ;  but  when  I  described  the  death  of  the  Wild  Zeh- 
ren,  and  how  I  had  last  seen  him — dead,  with  his  pale  face 
turned  to  the  rising  sun,  the  first  beams  of  which  fell  in  his 
glazed  eyes — he  sighed  deeply,  rocked  his  great  head  from 
side  to  side,  and  drank  deep  draughts  of  wine. 

"  And  now,  what  do  you  advise  me  to  do  ?  "  I  said,  at  last. 

"  What  is  your  own  idea.-"  "  asked  Hans. 

That  my  position  was  a  most  serious  one,  even  Hans  per- 
ceived. I  had  forced  Pinnow,  pistol  in  hand,  to  take  me 
with  him  ;  I  had  taken  the  most  direct  and  most  active  part 
in  the  expedition  ;  I  had  fired  upon  the  officers ;  I  had  ac- 
companied Herr  von  Zehren  in  his  desperate  flight.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  law  these  were  far  from  being  meritorious  per- 
formances ;  and  the  less  I  came  into  contact  with  the  law 
henceforth,  the.  better  it  would  be  for  me. 

"  And  yet,"  I  said,  "  would  that  this  were  my  greatest 
trouble  ;  but  my  father  would  never  outlive  the  shame  of 
having  a  son  in  the  penitentiary ;  and  therefore  I  am  resolved 
to  fly,  though  it  were  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

Hans  nodded  approbation.  .     .  i 

"  What  if  I  went  to  America  ?  " 

So  brilliant  an  idea  as  this,  which  at  a  blow  removed  all 
the  perplexities  of  the  situation,  secured  the  instantaneous 
adhesion  of  Hans. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


191 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


BUT  the  most  dazzling  ideas  are  frequently  found  to  have 
their  dark  side  when  it  comes  to  putting  them  in  execu- 
tion. The  financial  question  Hans  thought  he  had  set- 
tled when  he  went  to  his  desk,  which  was  not — and  apparently 
could  not  be — locked,  took  out  a  box,  and  poured  its  con- 
tents between  us  on  the  table.  There  were  from  four  to  five 
hundred  thaleri  in  gold,  silver,  and  treasury  notes,  mixed  up 
with  invitations  to  hunting-parties,  receipted  and  unreceipted 
bills,  dance-cards  (apparently  from  an  earlier  time),  samples 
of  wool,  percussion-caps,  and  a  few  dozen  buckshot,  which 
rolled  upon  the  floor  and  awaked  Caro,  who  had  been  asleep 
under  the  sofa,  and  now  crept  forth,  yawning  and  stretching, 
as  if  he  considered  that  buckshot  belonged  to  his  depart- 
ment. 

Hans  said  that  he  had  at  the  moment,  so  far  as  he  knew, 
no  more  in  the  house  ;  but  if  it  was  not  sufficient,  he  would 
search  his  coats,  in  which  he  had  from  time  to  time  found 
quite  considerable  sums  between  the  cloth  and  the  lining. 

I  was  much  affected  by  Hans's  kindness  ;  but  even  were  I 
to  avail  myself  of  it,  how  was  the  flight  to  be  accomplished .'' 
Hans  had  heard — and  it  appeared  only  too  probable — that 
search  was  being  made  for  me  everywhere.  How  could  I, 
without  being  seized,  make  my  way  to  Bremen  or  Hamburg 
or  any  other  port  from  which  I  could  get  a  passage  to  Amer- 
ica— at  least  so  long  as  the  pursuit  was  still  hot  ? 

After  much  consideration,  Hans  hit  upon  the  following 
plan,  the  inspiration  to  which  sprang  from  his  generous  heart. 
I  was  for  a  while  to  remain  concealed  in  his  house,  until  the 
first  heat  of  the  pursuit  was  over.  Then — always  supposing 
that  he  was  himself  unmolested — we  would  undertake  the 
journey  together,  I  being  disguised  as  his  coachman  or  ser- 
vant. The  question  now  arose  about  the  passport,  without 
which,  as  I  knew,  no  one  was  allowed  to  go  on  board  the 
ship.  Here  also  the  inventive  Hans  found  an  expedient. 
A  certain  Herr  Schulz,  who  had  been  his  overseer,  had  in- 
tended to  emigrate  the  previous  spring,  and  procured  the 
necessary  papers,  but  had  died  before  his  project  was  ac- 


192  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

complished.  These  papers  Hans  had  kept,  and  after  some 
searching  we  found  them.  It  appeared  from  their  contents 
that  the  emigrating  overseer  was  not  nineteen,  but  forty  years 
old  ;  not  six  feet  without  his  shoes,  which  was  my  stature, 
but  only  four  and  a  half ;  and  moreover,  he  was  distinguished 
by  being  very  deeply  pitted  with  the  small-pox.  Still,  Hans 
was  of  opinion  that  they  would  not  look  into  the  matter  so 
closely,  and  a  hundred  thaler  note  would  reconcile  all  the 
little  discrepancies. 

It  was  two  o'clock  by  the  time  we  had  matured  this  ingen- 
ious plan,  and  Hans's  eyes  were  growing  heavy  with  weari- 
ness. As  he  insisted  that  I  should  sleep  in  his  bed,  I  was 
obliged  to  leave  him  the  sofa  in  the  sitting-room,  on  which 
he  had  scarcely  stretched  himself  when  he  began  to  snore. 
I  covered  him  with  his  cloak,  and  went  into  his  chamber, 
where,  tired  as  I  was,  I  still  took  time  to  avail  myself  of  the 
simple  apparatus  for  ablution  that  I  found  there,  to  my  great 
comfort.  Then  dressing  myself  again,  I  lay  down  on  Hans's 
bed. 

I  slept  soundly  an  hour  or  two,  and  as  I  awaked  at  the 
first  gray  glimmer  of  dawn,  a  resolution  with  which  I  had 
lain  down,  arose  clear  to  my  mind.  I  would  go  :  the  good 
Hans  should  not  on  my  account  be  brought  into  any  more 
serious  troubles.  The  longer  I  remained  with  him,  the 
greater  was  the  probability  that  his  complicity,  which  it  was 
just  possible  might  remain  concealed  as  things  were,  would 
be  discovered,  and  it  would  then  appear  in  a  so  much  more 
serious  light.  Besides,  I  had  in  truth  but  little  faith  in  the 
availability  of  the  pass  of  the  deceased  overseer  of  four  feet 
and  a  half  high  ;  and  finally,  as  a  youth  of  no  craven  spirit, 
I  was  possessed  with  the  conviction  that  it  was  my  duty  to 
take  the  consequences  of  my  action,  as  far  as  possible,  upon 
my  own  head  alone. 

So  I  softly  arose  from  the  bed,  wrote  a  few  words  of  grati- 
tude to  Hans  for  all  his  kindness,  filled  my  game-bag  with 
the  remains  of  the  supper,  stuck  the  note  in  the  neck  of  a 
wine-bottle  on  the  table,  in  the  assurance  that  Hans  would 
not  overlook  it  there,  gave  a  parting  nod  to  the  brave  fellow 
who  still  lay  in  the  same  position  upon  the  sofa  in  which  he 
had  fallen  asleep  two  hours  before,  patted  Caro,  who  wished 
to  accompany  me,  and  signified  to  him  that  I  could  not  take 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  193 

him,  took  my  gun,  and  went  out  by  the  same  window  at 
which  I  had  entered. 


•CHAPTER    XXIII. 

FOOD,  drink,  and  sleep  had  completely  restored  my  old 
strength,  and  I  was  now  in  a  condition  to  play  my  part 
in  the  game  of  "  robbers  and  soldiers  "  more  success- 
fully. 

The  following  days — there  were  three  or  four  of  them — '  1 
form  a  strange  episode  in  the  history  of  my  life ;  so  that 
it  often  seems  to  me  that  I  cannot  really  have  lived  them,  but 
must  have  read  the  whole  in  some  story-book.  Yes,  after  so 
many  years — there  are  thirty  of  them  now — the  remembrance 
of  those  days  comes  before  me  like  some  story  about  the  bad 
boy  who  lost  himself  in  the  woods,  and  to  whom  so  many 
uncomfortable  things  happened  there ;  and  yet  who  drank 
so  much  sweet  pure  air,  and  bathed  in  so  much  golden  sun- 
shine, that  one  would  give  who  knows  how  many  stations  in 
the  monotonous  turnpike  of  his  orderly  life,  could  he  but 
once  experience  such  romantic  suffering  and  happiness. 

As  if  heaven  itself  was  disposed  to  be  good  to  the  bad 
boy  who,  whatever  his  errors,  had  erred  but  through  youthful 
folly,  and  perhaps,  all  things  considered,  was  not  after  all  so 
utterly  bad,  it  sent  him  two  or  three  of  the  loveliest  autumn 
days  for  his  adventurous  flight.  The  recent  rains  had 
cleared  the  air  to  a  crystalline  transparency,  so  that  the 
remotest  distance  seemed  brought  near  at  hand.  A  flood 
of  bright  but  indescribably  soft  sunlight  streamed  from  the 
cloudless  sky,  and  penetrated  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the 
forest,  where  from  the  huge  old  trees  the  yellow  leaves 
silently  floated  down  to  the  others,  with  which  the  ground 
was  already  strewn.  Not  a  sound  was  audible  in  the  simny 
wilderness  except  the  melancholy  chirp  of  a  yellow-hammer 
in  the  thicket,  or  the  hoarse  cawing  of  a  crow  who  regarded 
with  disfavor  the  gun  which  I  was  carrying,  or  the  faint  cry 
of  cranes  that,  careless  of  what  was  going  on  below,  were 
winging  high  in  air  their  proud  flight  to  southern  lands.  "^ 
9 


\ 


194  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Then  again  I  lay  in  the  heart  of  the  forest  upon  some  j 

hillock,  perhaps  a  "  giant's  barrow,"  as  they  were  tradition-  ^ 

ally  called,  and  watched  sly  Reynard  steal  out  of  his  Castle  j 

Malepartus  among  the  great  stones,  to  bask  in  the  morning  j 

sun,  while  a  few  paces  farther  off  his  half-grown  cubs  chased  | 

each  other  and  rolled  over  and  over  in  merry  romp  ;  or  I 
marked  in  the  evening  light  a  herd  of  deer  crossing  a  clear- 
ing, the  stag  in  front  with  head  proudly  held  aloft,  and  only 
lowered  occasionally  to  pick  a  peculiarly  tempting  tuft  of 
herbage,  while  the  does  came  peacefully  grazing  after. 

Again  I  stood  on  the  heights,  close  to  the  verge  of  the 
steep  chalk-cliff,  and  looked  longingly  out  over  the  blue  sea, 
where  on  the  farthest  horizon  a  little  cloud  marked  the  spot 
where  the  steamer  which  I  had  been  watching  for  an  hour 
had  disappeared,  while  in  the  middle  distance  glittered  the 
sails  of  a  pair  of  fishing-boats.  The  speck  of  cloud  vanished, 
the  white  sails  dwindled  away,  and  with  a  sigh  I  turned  back 
into  the  forest,  scarcely  hoping  now  that  I  should  succeed  in 
.getting  off  the  island. 

Twice  already  I  had  made  the  attempt.  Once  at  a  small 
fishing  village  that  lay  at  the  head  of  a  narrow  cove  in  a  re- 
cess of  the  shore,  and  was  the  picture  of  isolation  and  lone- 
liness. But  the  men  were  all  out  fishing  ;  only  a  very  old 
man  and  a  couple  of  half-grown  youths  were  at  home  with 
the  women  and  children.  If  the  catch  was  a  good  one,  it 
might  be  two  days  before  the  men  came  back  ;  and  it  was 
not  likely  then  that  any  one  would  take  me  so  far.  So  said 
the  old  man,  when  I  asked  ;  while  a  pair  of  red-haired  chil- 
dren stood  by  staring  at  me  with  open  mouths,  and  an  old 
woman  came  up  and  confirmed  the  man's  statement,  while 
the  sun  sank  below  the  horizon,  and  a  cool  breeze  blew  down 
the  cove  towards  the  darkened  sea. 

It  was  the  second  day  of  my  wandering.  The  first  night  I 
had  passed  in  a  sheep-fold :  I  thought  I  might  venture  for 
once  to  sleep  under  a  roof ;  and  the  good  wife  to  whom  I 
made  the  proposal  willingly  gave  up  to  me  the  chamber  of 
her  son,  who  had  sailed  away  three  years  before,  and  not  been 
heard  of  since.  I  might,  very  likely,  have  spent  days  in 
this  retired  nook  without  being  discovered  j  but  the  necessity 
of  my  getting  off  the  island  was  too  pressing,  and  early  on 
the  next  morning  I  set  out  to  try  my  fortune  elsewhere. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


195 


My  next  trial  was  made  in  a  large  village.  There  were 
boats  enough  and  men  enough  there,  but  no  one  would  take 
me  ;  not  even  though  I  offered  ten  dollars,  half  the  money  I 
had,  for  the  short  passage  to  the  Mecklenburg  coast,  where 
I  might  consider  myself  tolerably  safe.  I  do  not  know 
whether,  as  was  possible,  they  knew  who  I  was,  or  merely 
saw  something  suspicious  in  the  wild-looking  young  man 
with  a  gun  on  his  shoulder  who  asked  a  passage  to  another 
country  ;  or  whether,  as  I  seemed  in  such  extreme  haste,  and 
appeared  to  have  money,  they  merely  wished,  by  delay  and 
apparent  reluctance,  to  extort  a  higher  fare.  But  after  an 
hour  had  been  spent  in  parleying,  and  Karl  Bollmann  said 
he  was  willing  to  take  me,  if  Johann  Peters  would  lend  his 
boat ;  and  Peters,  for  his  part,  was  ready  to  go,  but  only  in 
Bollmann's  boat ;  and  Christian  Rickmann,  who  was  stand- 
ing by  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  said  he  would  take  me 
with  his  boys,  but  not  for  less  than  thirty  dollars  ;  and  all 
then  held  a  whispering  consultation  together,  during  which 
the  whole  population,  women  and  children  included,  gathered 
around — I  thought  it  prudent  not  to  await  the  result,  but 
turned  abruptly  away,  and  strode  off  towards  the  dunes.  A 
half-dozen  followed  me,  but  I  showed  them-  my  gun,  upon 
which  they  kept  back. 

The  same  day  I  had  another  proof  that  the  pursuit  for  me 
was  still  kept  up,  which  indeed  I  had  never  doubted.  It 
was  towards  evening,  when  reconnoitring  from  the  edge  of 
the  woods  a  piece  of  open  country  that  I  had  to  cross,  I 
caught  sight  of  two  mounted  patrols  on  the  road,  talking 
with  a  shepherd  who  had  driven  his  flock  upon  the  strip  of 
heath  between  the  road  and  the  woods.  I  observed  that  they 
several  times  pointed  to  the  forest,  but  the  shepherd's  an- 
swers seemed  satisfactory,  for  they  presently  rode  away  in 
the  opposite  direction,  and  disappeared  beyond  some  rising 
ground.  When  I  thought  them  far  enough,  I  came  out  of 
my  concealment  and  joined  the  shepherd,  who  was  knitting 
a  long  black  stocking,  and  whose  simple  face  gave  a  suffi- 
cient guaranty  of  the  security  of  the  step.  He  told  me,  in 
answer  to  my  inquiries,  that  the  patrol  were  on  the  track  of 
a  man  who  had  committed  a  murder.  He  was  a  tall  young 
man,  they  had  said,  and  a  desperate  villain  :  but  they  would 
have  him  yet. 


196  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

The  lively  imagination  of  the  stocking-knitter  had  prob- 
ably had  sufficient  time  in  the  interval  between  the  departure 
of  the  patrol  and  my  appearance,  to  paint  the  portrait  of  the 
fugitive  from  justice  in  the  most  frightful  colors.  At  all 
events  he  did  not  recognize  me,  but  took  me  at  once  for  what 
I  gave  myself  out  to  be :  a  huntsman,  who  was  stopping  on 
a  visit  at  one  of  the  neighboring  estates,  and  not  knowing 
the  country  well,  had  lost  his  way.  He  gave  me  minute 
directions  ho\v  to  find  my  way,  thanked  me  for  the  coin  I 
put  in  his  hand,  and  dropped  his  knitting  in  astonishment 
as  he  saw  me,  instead  of  following  his  directions,  strike 
across  the  heath  into  the  forest. 

The  vicinity  of  the  patrol  had  startled  me,  in  fact,  and  I 
had  determined  to  pass  this  night  in  the  woods.  It  was  a 
bad  night.  Warm  as  it  had  been  in  the  day,  it  grew  cold  at 
nightfall,  and  the  cold  steadily  increased  as  the  night 
advanced.  In  vain  did  I  bury  myself  a  foot  deep  in  the  dry 
leaves,  or  try  by  brisk  walking  backwards  and  forwards  to 
gain  a  little  warmth.  The  dense  mist  that  arose  from  the 
earth  soaked  my  clothes  through,  and  chilled  me  to  the  mar- 
row. The  long  hours  of  the  autumn  night  crept  on  with 
dreadful  slowness ;  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  be  day. 
And  in  addition  to  these  physical  and  almost  intolerable  suf- 
ferings of  cold,  hunger,  and  fatigue,  the  recollection  of  what  I 
had  recently  gone  through  presented  itself  to  me  in  ever  more 
frightful  pictures  the  longer  the  night  lasted,  and  the  more 
hotly  the  fever  burned  in  my  veins.  While,  half  dead  with 
fatigue,  I  staggered  backwards  and  forwards  in  a  clear  space 
between  the  trees,  I  saw  myself  again  on  the  moor  at  Herr 
von  Zehren's  side,  with  Jock  Swart  lying  dead  at  our  feet, 
while  the  flames  of  the  burning  castle  wrapped  us  in  an 
awful  glare,  so  fearfully  bright  that  it  seemed  the  whole  forest 
was  burning  around  me,  while  yet  my  limbs  shivered  and 
my  teeth  chattered  with  cold.  Then  Herr  von  Zehren  sat 
before  me  as  I  had  last  seen  him  sitting,  with  the  rising  sun 
shining  in  his  glazed  eyes ;  and  then  again  it  was  not  Herr 
von  Zehren,  but  my  father,  or  Professor  Lederer,  or  some 
other,  but  all  dead,  with  glassy  eyes  open  to  the  sun.  Then 
again  I  became  conscious  of  my  real  situation,  that  it  was 
dark  night  around  me,  that  I  was  excessively  cold,  that  I  had 
sharp  fever,  and  that  despite  the  risk  of  discovery  I  must 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  197 

resolve  to  kindle  a  real  fire  instead  of  the  frightful  visionary 
one  which  I  still  saw  in  my  feverish  hallucination. 

I  had  provided  myself  against  this  necessity  with  a  large 
piece  of  touchwood  which  I  had  broken  out  of  a  hollow  tree 
and  placed  in  my  game-bag.  By  its  aid  I  succeeded  after  a 
while  in  kindling  a  pile  of  half-dry  wood,  and  I  cannot  de- 
scribe the  delicious  sensation  that  thrilled  through  me  as  at 
last  a  bright  flame  sprang  up.  The  cheery  light  drove  back 
the  fever-phantoms  into  the  darkness  from  which  they  had 
sprung ;  the  luxurious  warmth  expelled  from  my  veins  the 
icy  cold.  I  dragged  together  great  quantities  of  fuel ;  I 
could  not  sufficiently  luxuriate  in  the  sight  of  the  curling 
smoke,  the  leaping  flames,  and  the  glittering  sparks.  Then 
I  seated  myself  at  my  forest-hearth,  and  resolved  in  my  mind 
what  I  should  do  to  escape  a  situation  which  I  clearly  saw  I 
could  not  long  endure.  At  last  I  hit  upon  a  plan.  I  must 
make  the  trial  to  get  away  at  some  one  of  the  points  from 
which  there  was  a  regular  communication  with  the  main-land, 
and  which  I  had,  on  good  grounds,  hitherto  avoided ;  and  the 
attempt  must  be  made  in  disguise,  as  otherwise  I  should  be 
recognized  instantly.  The  difficulty  was,  how  to  obtain  a 
suitable  disguise  \  and  here  a  happy  thought  struck  me.  I 
had  noticed  in  the  chamber  in  which  I  had  slept  the  previous 
night,  a  complete  sailor's  dress  hanging  against  the  wall ; 
very  likely  the  kind  old  woman  would  sell  it  to  me.  If  thus 
disguised  I  could  get  off  the  island,  I  was  pretty  confident 
that  by  a  night-march  I  could  reach  the  Mecklenburg  fron- 
tier ;  and  once  there,  I  would  let  chance  decide  what  was 
next  to  be  done. 

At  early  dawn  I  began  to  put  this  plan  into  execution ; 
and  although  I  had  a  walk  of  eight  or  ten  miles  to  the  lonely 
fishing  village,  I  reached  it  just  afl:er  sunrise.  The  good  old 
dame  would  not  hear  of  any  sale ;  I  needed  the  things,  and  that 
was  enough  ;  perhaps  some  one  in  some  strange  land  might 
do  as  much  for  her  son,  if  he  was  alive — and  a  tear  rolled 
down  her  aged  wrinkled  cheeks.  My  clothes  and  my  gun — 
for  I  had  left  my  pistol  at  Hans's — she  would  keep  for  me ; 
I  should  have  them  any  time  that  I  came  for  them.  I  do 
not  I  know  for  what  the  kind  old  creature  took  me  ;  but  no 
doubt  she  thought  that  I  was  in  distress ;  and  she  helped  me 
thus  because  I  said  that  this  was  the  only  way  to  help  me. 


198  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

The  worthy  soul !  Later  in  my  life  it  was  in  my  power  in 
some  measure  to  repay  her  kindness,  if  indeed  a  kind  deed 
can  ever  be  repaid. 

So  I  set  out  at  once  upon  my  way,  which  took  me,  through 
many  perils,  directly  across  the  island  to  a  point  where  I 
determined  to  wait  until  evening  before  entering  Fahrdorf, 
which  I  could  reach  in  an  hour.  Relying  upon  my  sailor's 
dress,  which  fitted  me  perfectly,  and,  as  I  thought,  com- 
pletely disguised  me,  I  had  chosen  the  ferry  which  led  most 
directly  to  Uselin.  In  this  way,  it  was  true,  I  should  have 
to  go  through  my  native  town  ;  but  it  was  probable  that  just 
there  I  should  be  least  looked  for  ;  and  at  that  time,  I  con- 
fess it,  it  took  but  a  little  to  rouse  in  me  the  old  daring 
spirit  which  had  already  played  me  so  many  an  unlucky 
trick.  With  a  grim  satisfaction  I  imagined  myself  pacing  at 
night  through  the  silent  streets,  and  even  considered  whether 
I  should  not  write  on  the  door  of  the  Rathhau^  the  old  say- 
ing of  the  Nuremburgers,  and  sign  my  name  to  it. 

At  nightfall  I  entered  Fahrdorf  I  had  missed  the  boat ; 
but  the  next  one,  which  was  the  last,  sailed  in  half  an  hour. 
As  I  had  seen  through  the  window  of  the  tavern  that  the 
large  tap-room  was  almost  empty,  and  as  I  must  of  necessity 
strengthen  myself  for  my  night-journey,  I  entered  it,  took  my 
seat  at  the  farthest  table  with  my  face  to  the  wall,  and 
ordered  some  supper  of  the  bar-maid. 

The  girl  went  to  get  it  for  me.  On  the  table,  beside  the 
candle  which  she  had  lighted,  lay  a  beer-stained  copy  of  the 
Uselin  Weekly  News  of  the  previous  day — another  cleaner 
copy  is  now  lying  beside  the  page  on  which  I  am  writing. 
I  took  it  up,  and  my  first  glance  fell  upon  the  following 
announcement:  1 

NOTICE. 

Frederick  William  George  Hartwig,  former  pupil 
of  and  fugitive  from  the  Gymnasium  in  Uselin,  strongly  sus- 
pected of  smuggling,  of  violent  resistance  to  officers  of  the 
Government,  and  of  murder,  has  still,  notwithstanding  every 
exertion  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  evaded  arrest.  As  it 
greatly  concerns  the  public  welfare  that  this  apparently  most 
dangerous  person  should  be  brought  to  justice,  he  is  hereby 

*  "  Rathhaus  ;  "  Council-house,  or  City  Hall. — Tr. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  199 


• 


summoned  voluntarily  to  surrender  himself;  and  all  persons 
who  may  have  any  knowledge  of  the  place  of  concealment 
of  the  aforesaid  Hartwig,  are  called  upon  to  give  notice 
thereof  without  delay  to  the  undersigned.  We  also  urgently 
and  respectfully  request  the  various  authorities,  both  here 
and  abroad,  to  keep  a  strict  watch  for  the  aforesaid  Hartwig, 
(description  at  foot),  to  arrest  him  promptly,  should  he  be 
discovered,  and  forward  him  to  us  at  our  expense,  under  the 
assurance  of  the  readiest  reciprocity  on  our  part  in  a  similar 
case.  -(Signed)  Heckepfennig. 

District  of  *  *  * 

Uselin,  November  2,  1833. 

I  will  not  copy  the  description  that  followed.  The  reader 
could  learn  from  it  nothing  except  that  at  that  time  I  re- 
joiced in  dark-blond,  curly  hair  ("  sorrel-top  "  the  boys  used 
to  call  me  when  they  wanted  to  tease  me),  stood  six  feet 
without  my  shoes,  and,  as  a  well-finished  specimen  of  hu- 
manity, had  no  special  marks,  or  at  least  none  in  the  eyes  of 
Herr  Justizrath  Heckepfennig. 

But  in  truth,  at  this  moment  so  critical  for  me,  I  scarcely 
noticed  the  description  of  my  person  ;  the  Notice  occupied 
all  my  thoughts.  When,  the  evening  before,  the  shepherd 
said  that  the  man  whom  the  patrol  were  after  was  charged 
with  murder,  I  did  not  believe  it  for  a  moment.  He  was 
such  a  simple-looking  fellow,  that  I  thought  the  patrol  had 
been  telling  him  a  frightful  story  to  scare  him,  or  to  enhance 
their  own  importance.  But  here  it  stood  in  large  clear  let- 
ters in  the  Weekly  News,  which,  as  but  few  other  papers  had 
ever  fallen  into  my  hands,  was  always  to  my  uncritical  youth- 
ful mind  invested  with  a  certain  magisterial  authority — I 
might  almost  say,  bore  the  stamp  of  infallibility.  "  Suspected 
of  murder !  "  Was  it  possible  >  Was  I  then  looked  upon  as 
the  murderer  of  Jock  Swart  ?  I,  who  had  thanked  God  when 
I  saw  the  man  at  whom  I  had  fired,  limping  briskly  off  ?  I, 
whose  only  consolation  in  these  last  days  of  suffering,  was 
that  at  the  worst  no  man's  death  weighed  upon  my  con- 
science ?  And  here  it  was  proclaimed  to  all  the  world  that  I 
was  a  murderer ! 

The  bar-maid  brought  the  refreshment  I  had  ordered,  and 
1  think  advised  me  to  waste  no  time,  as  the  ferry-boat  would 
soon  start.     I  scarcely  heard  what  she  said,  but  left  my  sup- 


200  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

per  untouched,  and  sat  staring  at  the  paper,  which  I  had 
hastily  turned  over  as  the  girl  entered,  as  if  my  printed  name 
might  betray  me.  But  on  the  other  side  it  again  appeared  in 
a  paragraph  headed  City  Items.     The  paragraph  ran  thus  : 

"  Yesterday  evening,  in  some  unaccountable  way,  a  rumor 
got  afloat  that  George  Hartwig,  whose  name  is  now  in  every- 
body's mouth,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  house  of  his  father, 
Customs- Accountant  Hartwig,  and  was  there  in  hiding.  An 
immense  crowd,  of  probably  more  than  a  hundred  persons, 
assembled  in  consequence  in  the  Water  street,  and  tumultu- 
ously  demanded  that  the  young  criminal  should  be  given  up 
to  them.  In  vain  did  the  unhappy  father,  standing  on  his 
threshold,  protest  that  his  son  was  not  in  his  house,  and 
that  he  was  not  the  man  to  obstruct  the  course  of  justice. 
Even  the  vigorous  exertions  of  those  dauntless  public  ser- 
vants, officers  Luz  and  BoUjahn,  were  ineffectual ;  only  the 
eloquent  appeals  of  our  respected  mayor,  who  had  hurried 
to  the  spot  at  the  first  news  of  the  disturbance,  succeeded  at 
last  in  dispersing  the  excited  crowd.  We  cannot  refrain 
from  earnestly  warning  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  folly  and 
lawlessness  of  such  proceedings,  although  we  willingly  admit 
that  the  affair  in  question,  which  unhappily  seems  to  assume 
even  more  serious  proportions,  is  of  a  nature  to  strongly  ex- 
cite the  minds  of  all.  But  we  appeal  to  the  men  of  intelli- 
gence— that  is  to  say,  to  the  great  majority  of  our  fellow- 
citizens — and  ask  them  if  we  cannot  repose  the  fullest  confi- 
dence in  the  authorities  ?  Should  we  not  be  convinced  that 
the  public  welfare  is  in  better  keeping  in  their  hands  than 
in  those  of  a  thoughtless,  ungoverned  mob  ?  And  in  refer- 
ence to  the  occurrence  of  yesterday,  we  earnestly  appeal  to 
the  good  feeling  of  all  well-meaning  persons.  Let  them 
remember  that  the  father  of  the  unhappy  George  Hartwig  is 
one  of  our  most  respectable  citizens.  He  would,  as  he  de- 
clared, and  as  we  for  our  part  firmly  believe,  be  the  last  to 
obstruct  the  course  of  justice.  Fellow-citizens,  let  us 
respect  this  assurance  ;  let  us  respect  the  man  who  gave  it 
Let  us  be  just,  fellow-citizens,  but  not  cruel.  And  before  all, 
let  us  take  care  that  the  reputation  of  good-order  and  of  a 
law-abiding  spirit  which  our  good  old  town  has  so  long 
enjoyed,  be  not  lost  through  our  fault." 

The   well-known   signal   summoning   the   passengers   on 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  201 

board,  now  sounded  from  the  wharf,  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  girl  came  in  again  and  told  me  I  must  make  haste. 

"  But  you  have  not  eaten  a  bit !  "  she  exclaimed,  and 
stared  at  me  with  surprise  and  alarm.  I  suppose  that  I 
looked  very  pale  and  agitated.  I  muttered  some  reply,  laid 
a  thaler  on  the  table,  and  hurried  from  the  house. 

Notwithstanding  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  the  boat  was 
crowded  with  passengers.  On  the  forward-deck  were  stand- 
ing two  saddled  horses,  which  could  only  belong  to  the 
mounted  patrol ;  and  I  soon  discovered  their  riders,  who 
were  the  same  that  I  had  seen  talking  to  the  shepherd,  as  I 
gathered  from  their  conversation  with  a  couple  of  peasants. 
They  were  complaining  bitterly  of  being  recalled,  for  they 
were  sure,  they  said,  that  they  would  have  caught  the  villain, 
who  must  be  somewhere  hidden  on  the  island,  though  six 
more  besides  themselves,  two  on  horseback  and  four  on  foot, 
had  searched  it  through  in  every  direction.  Now  the  others 
would  gain  the  reward,  while  they  were  sent  for  to  keep 
order  in  the  town,  which  was  no  affair  of  theirs  ;  there  were 
Bolljahn  and  Luz  to  attend  to  that  duty. 

I  sat  quite  near  them,  and  could  hear  every  word  they 
said  ;  and  I  thought  what  delight  it  would  give  the  brave 
fellows  if  I  were  suddenly  to  stand  up  and  say,  "  here's  the 
villain."  But  I  could  not  afford  them  that  pleasure  ;  what  I 
had  resolved  to  do,  must  be  done  voluntarily.  So  I  kept 
quiet,  and  it  never  occurred  to  the  wise  servants  of  the  law 
that  the  young  sailor  who  was  listening  to  them  with  such 
apparent  interest  was  the  man  they  were  looking  for. 

The  wind  was  fair,  and  the  passage  quick ;  in  half  an 
hour  the  boat  reached  her  wharf.  The  horses  pawed,  the 
patrolmen  swore,  the  passengers  crowded  out  of  the  boat, 
and  went  up  the  wharf  with  their  luggage.  At  the  upper 
end  of  the  wharf,  just  by  the  gate,  stood  fat  Peter  Hinrich, 
the  landlord  of  the  sailor's  tavern,  and  asked  me  if  I  would 
not  lodge  in  his  house.  I  said  I  had  a  lodging  engaged 
elsewhere. 

So  I  passed  through  the  ruinous  old  port-gate,  which  was 
never  shut,  and  entered  the  Water  street.  When  I  arrived 
at  the  small  house,  I  paused  for  a  moment.  All  in  the 
house  was  dark  and  silent,  and  it  was  dark  and  silent  in  the 
street ;  but  only  two  days  before  there  had  been  commotion 
9* 


2  02  Hammer  and  Am'il. 

enough  here,  and  there  upon  the  threshold  my  father  had 
stood  and  said  that  he  was  not  the  man  to  obstruct  the 
course  of  justice.  He  should  not  incur  the  suspicion  of 
having  concealed  his  son  in  his  house  ;  he  should  see  that 
his  son  had  still  some  regard  for  his  father's  good  name,  and 
that  he  had  the  courage  to  face  the  consequences  of  what 
he  had  done. 

The  exhortations  of  the  Weekly  Ne7as  had  not  been  in 
vain.  The  little  town  seemed  as  if  life  had  departed  j  the 
energetic  Luz  and  BoUjahn,  with  the  best  will  in  the  world, 
could  have  found  no  field  for  their  activity.  My  steps 
resounded  along  the  empty  alleys,  which  struck  me  as  being 
singularly  narrow  and  crooked.  Here  and  there  was  light  in 
the  windows  ;  but  folks  went  early  to  bed  in  Uselin,  and  the 
authorities  could  therefore  extinguish  the  street  lamps  at  a 
very  early  hour,  especially  when,  as  now,  the  new  moon  over 
St.  Nicholas's  church  looked  sadly  down  through  driving 
clouds  upon  the  empty  market-place. 

I  stood  in  the  market-place  before  the  house  of  Herr  Jus- 
tizrath  Heckepfennig.  It  was  one  of  the  stateliest  mansions 
in  the  town.  How  often  had  I  passed  it  when  I  came  out 
of  school  at  mid-day,  and  cast  a  glance  of  respectful  longing 
at  the  left-hand  corner-window  in  the  second  story  where 
Emilie  used  to  sit  behind  a  vase  of  gold-fish,  and  always 
happened,  just  as  I  passed  by — a  little  dim  window-mirror 
gave  her  faithful  notice — to  have  her  attention  attracted  by 
something  in  the  market.  Now  I  again  looked  up  at  the 
window,  but  with  very  different  feelings.  There  was  a  light 
in  the  room,  which  was  the  usual  sitting-room  of  the  family. 
The  justizrath  used  to  smoke  his  evening  pipe  there.  I  had 
a  presentiment  that  the  visit  that  he  would  presently  receive 
would  cause  it  to  go  out. 

The  good  people  of  Uselin  did  not  usually  fasten  their 
street-doors  until  they  went  to  bed  ;  but  whether  it  was  that 
the  recent  disturbances  so  energetically  and  successfully  con- 
tended with  by  the  officers  Luz  and  Bolljahn  had  rendered 
greater  precautions  advisable  ;  or  whether  the  justizrath,  in 
his  double  capacity  of  wealthy  man  and  officer  of  the  law, 
insisted  upon  a  stricter  rule  in  this  matter — in  any  case  his 
door  was  fastened,  and  it  was  some  time  before  my  repeated 
ringing  was  answered  by  a  female  voice  that  called  through 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  203 

the  keyhole  in  rather  a  quavering  tone  to  know  who  was 
there.  My  reply,  "  one  who  wishes  urgently  to  speak  with  the 
Herr  Justizrath,"  did  not  seem  by  any  means  entirely  to  sat- 
isfy the  portress,  who  could  be  none  other  than  the  pretty 
housemaid  Jette.  A  whispering  followed,  from  which  I  in- 
ferred that  Jette  had  brought  the  cook  with  her  ;  then  a  gig- 
gling, and  finally  the  answer  that  she  would  tell  her  master. 

I  was  patrolling  up  and  down  before  the  house  in  my  im- 
patience, when  a  window  opened  in  the  sitting-room  above, 
and  the  Herr  Justizrath  in  person,  putting  out  his  head  a 
very  little  way  indeed,  repeated  the  question  of  the  housemaid, 
and  received  the  same  answer. 

"  What  is  your  business  ?"  asked  the  cautious  man. 

"I  come  from  the  island,"  I  replied  at  a  venture. 

"  Aha !"  cried  he,  and  closed  the  window. 

For  some  days  the  justizrath  had  done  nothing  but  give 
audience  to  people  who  professed  to  be  able  to  throw  some 
light  upon  the  great  mystery.  A  sailor  or  fisherman  just 
from  the  island,  and  who  urgently  desired  to  speak  with  him 
at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  could  come  with  but  one  object :  to 
make  some  imp>ortant  communication  which  might  bring 
some  illumination  into  the  obscurity  of  this  mysterious  affair. 
I  for  my  part  believed  that  the  justizrath  had  recognized  me 
by  my  voice,  and  that  his  exclamation  meant :  "  So  !  here 
you  are  at  last !"  I  was  soon  to  learn  how  greatly  I  was 
mistaken. 

The  door  was  opened,  an<i  I  hastily  entered.  Scarcely 
had  the  light  of  the  candle  which  Jette  was  holding  up  in  her 
hand,  fallen  upon  my  face,  when  she  gave  a  loud  scream, 
dropped  candlestick  and  all,  and  ran  off  as  hard  as  she  could, 
while  the  cook  followed  her  example,  at  least  so  far  as  scream- 
ing and  running  went.  The  cook,  who  was  an  elderly  female, 
ought  to  have  had  more  sense  ;  but  still  she  only  knew  me  by 
sight,  and  for  a  long  time  had  heard  nothing  but  horrors 
about  me,  so  I  cannot  blame  her.  But  the  conduct  of  the 
pretty  Jette  admitted  of  no  defence.  I  had  always  been  very 
friendly  to  her,  partly  on  her  mistress's  account,  and  partly 
on  her  own  ;  and  she  had  always  freely  acknowledged  it,  co- 
quettishly  smiling  whenever  I  met  her,  saluting  me  with  her 
deepest  curtsey  whenever  I  entered  the  house,  and  now — 
but  I  had  now  something  else  to  think  of  than  the  ingrati- 


204  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

tude  of  a  housemaid.  I  passed  through  the  dark  hall,  as- 
cended the  stair  I  knew  so  well,  and  knocked  at  the  door 
of  the  justizrath's  study,  which  adjoined  the  sitting-room,  and 
to  which  he  had  doubtless  betaken  himself  to  receive  his  late 
visitor. 

"  Come  in  !  "  said  the  justizrath,  and  I  entered. 

There  he  stood,  just  as  I  expected  to  find  him,  a  tall, 
broad-shouldered  figure,  wrapped  in  his  loose  flowered  dress- 
ing-gown, his  long  pipe  in  his  hand,  his  low,  narrow  forehead 
wrinkled  into  deep  folds  as  he  fixed  his  little  stupid  eyes 
with  a  look  of  curiosity  upon  me  at  my  entrance.  , 

"Well,  my  friend,  and  what  do  you  bring  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Myself,"  I  answered,  in  a  low  but  resolute  voice,  stepping 
up  nearer  to  him. 

My  presentiment  that  he  would  let  his  pipe  go  out  was  ful- 
filled by  his  simply  letting  it  drop  upon  the  floor ;  and  with- 
out saying  a  word  he  caught  up  the  skirts  of  his  flowered 
dressing-gown  in  both  hands,  and  fled  into  the  family-room. 

There  I  stood  by  the  broken  pipe,  and  trampled  out  the 
glowing  ashes  which  had  fallen  upon  the  little  carpet  by  the 
writing-table.  While  engaged  in  this  certainly  not  criminal 
occupation,  I  was  startled  by  a  cry  for  the  watch  from  the 
adjacent  window  that  opened  on  the  market-place.  It  was 
the  voice  of  the  justizrath,  but  it  had  a  very  hoarse  and  la- 
mentable sound,  as  if  some  one  had  him  by  the  throat.  I 
stepped  to  the  door  of  the  sitting-room  and  knocked. 

"  Herr  Justizrath  !  " 

No  answer. 

"  Frau  Justizrath  !  " 

All  silent. 

"  Fraulein  Emilie  !  " 

A  pause,  and  then  a  frightened  little  voice  that  I  had  so 
often  heard  laughing,  and  with  which  I  had  sung  so  many  a 
duet  in  parties  by  land  and  water,  piped  feebly  out :  i 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  " 

"  Tell  your  father,  Fraulein  Emilie,  that  if  he  does  not  at 
once  stop  calling  the  watch,  and  does  not  immediately  come 
into  his  study,  I  shall  go  away  and  not  come  back." 

I  said  this  in  a  tone  in  which  resolution  and  politeness 
were  so  blended,  that  I  was  sure  it  could  hardly  fail  of  its 
effect.      I  could  hear  a  whispered  discussion  within.     The 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  205 

women  seemed  to  be  adjuring  the  husband  and  father  not  to 
adventure  his  precious  life  in  so  manifest  a  peril,  while  the 
husband  and  father  sought  to  calm  their  terrors  by  heroic 
phrases,  such  as,  "  But  it  is  my  duty,"  or,  "  It  might  cost 
me  my  place  !  " 

At  last,  assisted  by  these  weighty  considerations,  duty  tri- 
umphed. The  door  slowly  opened,  and  by  the  side  of  the 
flowered  dressing-gown  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  cap  of  the 
Frau  Justizrath,  and  of  the  curl-papers  of  Fraulein  Emilie, 
whose  golden  ringlets  I  had  always  supposed  a  beautiful 
work  of  nature.  But  so  many  great  illusions  of  mine  had 
been  dissipated  in  the  last  few  days,  that  this  small  one 
might  well  go  with  the  rest. 

/  Hesitatingly  the  justizrath  closed  the  door  behind  him, 
hesitatingly  he  came  a  few  paces  nearer,  stopped  and  tried 
to  fix  me  firmly  with  his  eye,  in  which,  after  some  difficulty, 
he  almost  succeeded. 

"Young  man,"  he  began,  "you  are  alone  ?" 

"  As  you  see,  Herr  Justizrath." 

"  And  without  weajxjns  ?  " 

"  Without  weapons." 

"  Without  any  weapon  ?  " 

"  Without  any  weapon." 

I  unbuttoned  my  sailor  jacket  to  convince  my  questioner 
of  the  truth  of  my  statement  The  justizrath  evidently 
breathed  more  fireely. 

"  And  you  have  come ?  " 

"  To  surrender  myself  to  justice." 

"  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  so  at  once  ? " 

"  I  do  not  think  you  gave  me  time." 

The  justizrath  cast  a  confused  glance  at  his  broken  pipe 
on  the  floor,  cleared  his  throat,  and  seemed  not  to  know 
exactly  what  was  to  be  done  in  such  an  extraordinary  case. 
There  was  a  pause  of  silence. 

The  ladies  must  have  inferred  from  this  pause  that  I  was 
engaged  in  cutting  the  throat  of  the  husband  and  father; 
at  least  at  this  moment  the  door  was  flung  open,  and  the 
Frau  Justizrath,  in  night-gown  and  night-cap,  came  rushing 
in  and  fell  upon  the  neck  of  her  spouse  in  the  flowered 
dressing-gown,  whom  she  embraced  with  every  mark  of  mor- 
tal fear,  while  Emilie,  who  had  followed  close  behind  her, 


2o6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

turned  to  me,  and  with  a  tragic  gesture  of  supplication,  raised 
both  her  hands  as  high  as  her  curl-papers. 

"  Heckepfennig,  he  will  murder  you  ! "  sobbed  the  night- 
gown. 

"  Spare,  oh  spare  my  aged  father  !  "  moaned  the  curl- 
papers. 

And  now  the  door  leading  into  the  passage  opened.  Jette 
and  the  cook  were  curious  to  see  what  was  going  on,  though 
at  the  peril  of  perishing  in  the  general  massacre,  and  ap- 
peared upon  the  threshold  wailing  aloud.  This  mark  of 
courageous  devotion  so  touched  the  night-gown  that  it  burst 
into  a  flood  of  hysterical  tears,  and  the  curl-papers  tottered 
to  the  sofa  with  the  apparent  intention  of  swooning  upon  it. 

Here  the  justizrath  showed,  for  the  second  time,  how  great 
emergencies  .bring  out  the  strength  of  great  characters. 
With  gentle  firmness  he  freed  the  flowered  dressing-gown 
from  the  embrace  of  the  night-gown,  and  said  in  a  voice  that 
announced  his  resolve  to  do  and  dare  the  worst :  "  Jette, 
bring  me  my  coat !  "  i 

This  was  the  signal  for  a  scene  of  indescribable  confu- 
sion, out  of  which,  in  about  five  minutes,  the  victim  of  his 
devotion  to  duty  emerged  victorious  with  coat,  hat,  and  stick  : 
a  sublime  sight,  only  the  effect  was  a  little  damaged  by  the 
hero's  feet  being  still  covered  with  embroidered  slippers,  a 
fact  of  which  he  was  not  aware  until  it  was  too  late,  when  we 
were  standing  on  the  pavement  of  the  market-place. 

"  Never  mind,  Herr  Justizrath,"  I  said,  as  he  was  about 
to  turn  back.  "  You  would  not  get  away  again,  and  we  have 
but  a  few  steps  to  go."  | 

In  fact  the  little  old  Rathhaus  was  at  the  other  side  of  the 
by  no  means  wide  square,  and  the  pavement  was  perfectly 
dry,  so  that  the  victim  of  fidelity  had  not  even  to  fear  a  cold 
in  the  head. 

"  Herr  Justizrath,"  I  said,  as  we  crossed  the  market-place, 
"  you  will  tell  my  father,  will  you  not,  that  I  gave  myself  up 
voluntarily,  and  without  any  compulsion ;  and  I  will  never 
mention  to  any  one  a  word  about  the  broken  pipe." 

I  have  spoken  many  foolish  and  inconsiderate  words  in 
my  life,  but  few  that  were  more  foolish  and  more  inconsider- 
ate than  this.  Just  as  I  was  touching  the  point  which  I 
might  say  was  J:he  only  thing  in  the  whole  affair  to  which 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  207 

I  attached  importance,  namely,  to  show  my  pride  to  the 
father  who  had  disowned  me,  I  failed  to  perceive  that  1  gave 
mortal  offence  to  a  man  who  would  never  forgive,  and  had 
never  forgiven  me.  Who  can  tell  what  other  turn  the  affair 
might  have  taken,  if,  instead  of  my  unpardonable  stupidity, 
I  had  intoned  a  paean  to  the  heroic  man  who  knew  how  to 
guard  himself  from  a  possible  and  indeed  probable  attack, 
and  then  did  his  duty,  happen  what  might.  But  how  could 
I  know  that,  young  fool  that  I  was  ? 

So  we  reached  the  open  hall  of  the  Rathhaus,  where  in 
the  day  time  an  old  cake-woman  used  to  sit  in  a  chair  sawed 
out  of  a  barrel,  before  a  table  where  plum-buns  and  candies 
lay  upon  a  cloth  not  always  clean,  that  was  constantly  flut- 
tering in  the  wind  that  blew  through  the  hall.  The  table 
was  now  bare,  and  presented  a  very  forlorn  appearance,  as 
if  old  Mother  Moller,  and  not  only  she,  but  all  the  cakes, 
plum-buns,  and  candies  of  the  world,  had  departed  forever. 

A  desolate  feeling  came  over  me  ;  for  the  first  and  only 
time  this  night,  the  thought  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps 
after  all  I  had  better  make  my  escape.  Who  was  to  pre- 
vent me .''  Assuredly  not  the  slippered  hero  at  my  side  ; 
and  as  little  the  old  night-watchman  Riiterbusch,  who  was 
shuffling  up  and  down  the  hall,  in  front  of  his  sentry-box,  in 
the  dim  light  of  a  lantern  that  swung  from  the  vaulted  roof. 
But  I  thought  of  my  father,  and  wondered  if  his  conscience 
would  not  smite  him  when  he  heard  the  next  morning  that  I 
was  in  prison  ;  and  so  I  stood  quietly  by  and  heard  the 
night-watchman  Riiterbusch  explaining  to  Justizrath  Heck- 
epfennig  that  the  matter  would  be  very  hard  to  manage,  since 
the  last  few  days  so  many  arrests  had  been  made,  that  the 
guard-house  was  completely  full. 

The  guard-house  was  a  forbidding-laoking  appendage  to 
the  Rathhaus,  and  fronted  on  an  extremely  narrow  alley  in 
which  footsteps  always  made  a  peculiar  echo.  No  towns- 
man who  could  avoid  it  ever  went  through  this  echoing  alley  ; 
for  that  gloomy  appendage  to  the  Rathhaus  had  no  door,  but 
a  row  of  small  square  windows  secured  with  iron  bars  and 
half-clos.ed  with  wooden  screens,  and  behind  them  here  and 
there  might  be  seen  a  pale,  woe-begone  face. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  conversation  between  Herr 
Justizrath  Heckepfennig   and   night-watchman  Riiterbusch 


208 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


had  come  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  I  was  sitting  behind 
one  of  these  grated  windows. 


ART 


E  C  O  N  D. 


CHAPTER    I. 


THIS  little  alley  by  the  Rathhaus,  in  which  footsteps 
gave  such  a  singular  echo,  had  never,  even  within 
the  recollection  of  the  most  ancient  crow  on  the 
neighboring  steeple  of  St.  Nicholas's  church,  enjoyed  such  a 
reputation  for  uncanniness  as  in  the  last  two  months  of  this 
year,  and  the  first  two  of  the  next.  It  was  also  observed 
that  in  no  previous  winter  had  the  snow  lain  so  deep  in  it, 
and  it  grew  dark  much  earlier  in  the  evening  than  had  ever 
before  been  known.  And  Mother  Moller,  the  old  cake- 
woman  in  the  Rathhaus  hall,  who  always  hitherto,  in  the  winter 
season,  packed  up  her  wares  at  the  stroke  of  five,  now  did  it 
regularly  at  half-past  four,  because,  as  she  affirmed,  just  as  it 
grew  dark  there  was  "  what  you  might  call  a  kind  of  corpsy 
smell  about,"  and  her  old  table-cloth  flapped  about  in  a  way 
no  natural  table-cloth  would  do.  On  the  other  hand  Father 
Rtiterbusch,  the  night-watchman,  asseverated  that  for  his  part 
he  had  not  observed  either  in  the  hall  or  the  alley  anything 
out  of  the  common,  not  even  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock, 
which  was  the  fashionable  hour  with  ghosts,  let  alone  at 
other  times.  Yet  people  were  more  disposed  to  accept  the 
views  of  the  old  cake-woman  than  those  of  the  still  older 
night-watchman  ;  as  the  first,  though  she  took  a  nap  now  and 
then,  still  on  the  whole  was  more  awake  than  asleep ;  while 
in  regard  to  the  other,  the  regular  customers  of  the  Rathhaus 
cellar,  who  had  to  pass  his  post  at  night,  maintained  pre- 
cisely the  contrary.  By  these  assertions  they  deeply  wounded 
the  good  heart  of  Father  Riiterbusch,  but  did  not  confute 
him.     "For,  d'ye  see,"  he  would  argue,  "you  must  know 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  209 

tha  a  sworn  night-watchman  never  goes  to  sleep,  on  any 
account ;  but  it  may  happen  that  he  pretends  to  be  asleep, 
in  order  not  to  mortify  certain  gentlemen  who  would  be 
ashamed  if  they  knew  the  old  man  had  his  eye  on  their  do- 
ings. And  mark  you,  I  am  willing  to  be  qualified  to  what  I 
say,  upon  my  oath  of  office ;  and  none  of  them  can  say  that. 
And  even  if  many  of  them,  for  instance  Rathscarpenter  Karl 
Bobbin,  come  and  go  the  same  way  every  evening,  that  is  to 
say  every  night,  for  nigh  on  to  twenty  years  now,  a  habit  is 
not  an  office,  mark  you ;  and  I  for  my  part  have  never  heard, 
for  example,  that  the  customers  of  the  cellar  ever  took  any 
oath  or  were  qualified  in  any  manner,  shape,  or  form  ;  and 
yet  it  was  only  last  Easter  I  celebrated  my  jubilee,  for  it  was 
then  fifty  years  I  had  held  this  place,  and  I  went  to  school 
with  Karl  Bobbin's  father,  who  was  never  of  any  account,  for 
that  matter." 

However,  be  that  as  it  might,  during  the  winter  of  '33— '34, 
there  was  but  one  opinion  of  the  matter  in  Uselin ;  and  that 
was,  that  if  there  was  anything  queer  about  the  Rathhaus 
alley,  nobody  need  wonder  at  it,  as  things  were. 

Things  were  certainly  bad  enough,  and  worse  for  no  one 
than  for  me,  who,  as  was  admitted  on  all  hands,  was  by  far 
the  chief  figure  in  the  great  smuggling  case  ;  for  into  such 
proportions,  thanks  to  the  inquisitorial  genius  of  the  justiz- 
rath  who  had  charge  of  the  investigation,  a  thing  which  to 
my  eyes  was  of  extreme  simplicity  had  now  been  developed. 

As  if  it  was  of  the  least  importance  how  the  case  looTced 
in  my  eyes  !  As  if  anybody  gave  himself  the  trouble  to  in- 
quire what  my  thoughts  or  wishes  were  !  But  no  ;  I  will  do 
Justizrath  Heckepfennig  and  co-referent  Justizrath  Bostel- 
mann  no  injustice.  They  gave  themselves  the  very  greatest 
trouble ;  but  they  had  no  desire  to  find  out  where  the  truth 
lay,  and  where  I  told  them  it  might  be  found. 

"  Why  had  I  left  my  father  ? "  they  asked. 

"  Because  he  ordered  me  out  of  his  house  !  " 

"  A  fine  reason,  truly !  Angry  fathers  often  tell  their  sons 
to  be  gone,  without  the  idea  ever  seizing  the  sons  to  start  off 
into  the  wide  world.  There  must  be  something  more  be- 
hind.    Perhaps  you  wanted  to  be  sent  off  ?  " 

"To  a  certain  extent  I  admit  it." 

"  Perhaps  you  admit  it  unqualifiedly  ? " 


2 TO  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  I  admit  it  unqualifiedly." 

"  Very  good.  Actuary,  please  to  take  down  the  reply  of 
the  prisoner,  who  admits  without  qualification  that  he  wished 
to  be  sent  off"  by  his  father.  And  when  and  where  did  you 
first  make  the  acquaintance  of  Herr  von  Zehren  ?  " 

"  On  that  evening  at  Smith  Pinnow's." 

"  Had  you  never  seen  him  before  ?  " 

"Never,  to  my  knowledge." 

"  Not  even  at  Smith  Pinnow's  ?  Pinnow  declares  that 
Herr  von  Zehren  was  so  often  at  his  house,  and  you  also  so 
often,  that  it  is  incredible  that  you  never  met  before." 

"  Pinnow  lies,  and  knows  that  he  lies  !  "  I 

"  You  still  persist  then  that  your  meeting  with  Herr  von 
Zehren  was  entirely  accidental  ?  " 

"Entirely."  I 

"  How  much  money  had  you  about  you  when  you  left 
your  father  ? " 

"  Twenty-five  silbergroschen,  as  well  as  I  can  remember."     ' 

"  And  had  you  any  prospect  of  obtaining  anywhere  a  per- 
manent position .'' " 

"None."  '  ' 

"  You  had  no  such  prospect,  had  but  twenty-five  silber- 
groschen  in  your  possession,  were  anxious  that  your  father 
should  send  you  off",  and  yet  you  persist  in  asserting  that 
your  meeting  on  that  same  evening  with  the  man  who  took 
you  at  once  into  his  house,  and  with  whom  you  stayed  until 
the  final  catastrophe,  was  purely  accidental !  You  are  sharp 
enough  to  see  how  extremely  improbable  this  is  ;  and  I  now 
ask  you  for  the  last  time,  if,  at  the  risk  of  casting  the  strong- 
est suspicions  on  your  veracity,  you  still  persist  in  that  state- 
ment?" 

"I  do."  .     I 

Justizrath  Heckepfennig  cast  a  look  at  Actuary  Unterwas- 
ser  as  much  as  to  say :  Can  you  conceive  such  impudence  ? 
Actuary  Unterwasser  smiled  compassionately,  and  sadly 
shook  his  head,  and  scratched  away  with  his  pen  over  his 
paper,  as  if  his  shocked  moral  sense  found  some  relief  in 
';  getting  such  inconceivablethings  at  all  events  down  in  black 
i  and  white. 

Thus  it  went  on  with  I  do  not  know  how  many  interroga- 
tions and  examinations  ;  summary  examination,  examination 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  211 

in  chief,  articular  examination.  Often  I  could  not  tell  what 
they  were  aiming  at,  and  what  was  the  object  of  all  the  long- 
winded  interrogatories,  and  short  cross-questions,  in  which 
last  Justizrath  Heckepfennig  considered  himself  particularly 
great.  I  complained  bitterly  of  this  to  my  counsel,  Assessor 
Perleberg,  saying  that  I  had  told — or,  as  they  preferred  to 
express  it,  confessed — everything  to  the  gentlemen. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  said  the  assessor,  "  in  the  first  place  it  is 
not  true  that  you  have  confessed  everything.  For  instance, 
you  have  refused  to  say  who  was  the  person  whom  caller 
Semlow  saw,  about  four  o'clock  on  the  evening  in  question, 
with  you  on  the  path  leading  to  Zehrendorf  And  in  the 
second  place,  what  is  confession  .-'  In  criminal  jurisprudence 
it  has  but  a  very  subordinate  value.  How  many  criminals 
cannot  be  brought  to  confess  at  all  ?  and  how  many  confes- 
sions are  false,  or  are  afterwards  recanted  ?  The  real  object 
of  the  examination  is  the  detection  of  guilt.  Consider,  my 
dear  sir,  your  entire  so-called  confession  might  be  a  fabrica- 
tion.    It  has  often  happened  before,  the  criminal  record — " 

It  was  enough  to  drive  a  man  desperate.  Years  after,  my 
counsel  became  a  great  beacon  and  luminary  of  jurispru- 
dence ;  and  indeed  he  was  such  at  that  time,  though  he  was 
not  then  a  professor,  a  privy-councillor,  and  a  man  of  wide 
reputation,  but  an  obscure  assessor  of  the  superior  court,  a 
very  learned  man,  and  of  wonderful  acuteness — a  world  too 
learned  and  too  acute  for  a  poor  devil  like  me.  With  his 
"  in  the  first  place,"  and  "in  the  second  place,"  he  would  have 
prejudiced  a  juiy  of  angels  against  innocence  herself,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  college  of  learned  judges  who  could  not  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  a  man  whose  defence  required  so  extra- 
ordinary an  expenditure  of  learning  and  acumen,  must  of 
necessity  be  a  very  great  criminal.  I  can  still  see  him  sitting 
on  the  end  of  the  table  in  my  cell,  which  was  fastened  with 
iron  clamps  to  the  wall,  jerking  his  long,  thin  legs,  and  flour- 
ishing his  long,  thin  arms,  like  a  great  spider  who  finds  a 
broken  mesh  in  his  web.  It  was  probably  a  hard  task  for  so 
learned  a  spider,  into  whose  web  a  clumsy  blue-bottle  had 
blundered  and  was  floundering  about  in  his  awkward  way,  to 
extricate  him  with  scientific  nicety.  And  now  for  the  first 
time  I  began  to  find  out  how  far-spreading  this  web  was,  and 
how  many  flies,  besides  myself,  were  entangled  in  its  meshes. 


212  Hammer  and  Anvil.  \ 

There  were  very  careless  flies  that  under  the  masks  of  re- 
spectable citizens  and  honest  tradesmen  of  my  native  place 
and  the  neighboring  towns,  had  for  years  carried  on  an 
extensive  business  in  smuggled  goods,  and  defrauded  the 
revenue  of  thousands  upon  thousands.  This  sort  of  flies 
was  very  dirty  and  disgusting.  For  as  soon  as  one  had 
caught  its  foot  in  the  web,  and  found  itself  entangled,  it 
turned  traitor  to  its  companions,  and  did  not  rest  until  all 
were  fast  in  the  web. 

Then  there  was  another  and  honester  species,  though  it 
was  far  from  wearing  so  honest  an  appearance.  These  were 
my  old  friends,  the  weather-beaten,  tobacco-chewing,  silent 
men  of  Zanowitz  and  the  other  fishing  villages  on  the  coast. 
They  had  by  no  means  had  so  good  a  time  of  it  as  the  gen- 
tlemen in  the  counting-houses  and  behind  the  counters. 
They  had  had  to  fight  with  wind  and  storm,  to  keep  watch 
and  ward,  to  suffer  hunger  and  cold,  arid  carry  their  lives  in 
their  hand,  and  all  for  small  gain,  many  of  them  for  only 
just  enough  to  keep  wife  and  children  from  starving  ;  and 
yet,  though  four  of  them  had  been  taken  prisoners  in  that 
terrible  night  on  the  moor,  the  examiners  could  draw  nothing 
from  them.  No  one  betrayed  his  comrade  \  no  one  knew 
who  had  been  the  man  at  his  side.  "  The  night  was  dark, 
and  in  the  dark  all  cats  are  gray ;  every  man  had  enough  to 
do  to  look  to  himself.  If  Pinnow  has  said  that  this  man 
and  that  man  was  there,  why  he  can  probably  make  oath  to 
it."  In  vain  did  the  justizrath  ask  the  most  ingenious  ques- 
tions, in  vain  did  he  wheedle  and  threaten — they  had  to  let 
go  a  dozen  or  two  that  were  very  strongly  suspected,  and 
console  themselves  with  the  reflection  that  at  all  events  they 
had  four  who  had  been  taken  in  the  act. 

Yes,  it  was  a  very  peculiar  sort  of  flies  who  had  thus  been 
caught  with  the  others  in  the  web  of  law ;  a  tough,  rough 
sort,  very  inconvenient  for  the  guardians  of  the  flesh-pots  of 
an  orderly  government,  but  still  honest  after  their  fashion, 
and  not  the  sneaking  crew  that  the  others  were. 

These  two  species  of  flies  had  for  a  long  time  played  into 
each  other's  hands,  but  without  any  proper  system,  and  con- 
sequently at  great  disadvantage,  until,  about  four  years  be- 
fore, the  business  had  taken  a  sudden  and  enormous  expan- 
sion.    For  some  one,  who  hitherto,  like  all  the  proprietors 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  213 

along  the  coast,  had  obtained  his  wine,  his  brandy,  his  salt, 
his  tobacco,  from  the  smugglers  in  small  quantities,  had  hit 
upon  the  idea  that  what  was  needed  was  an  intermediary  be- 
tween the  supply  and  the  demand  ;  a  middleman  who  should 
provide  a  sort  of  warehouse  or  magazine  for  the  smuggling 
trade,  and  thus  afford  the  furnishers  an  opportunity  of  get- 
ting rid  of  larger  quantities  at  once,  and  the  purchasers  the 
means  of  procuring  their  supplies  as  they  needed  them,  and 
at  convenient  times. 

This  plan,  founded  on  the  soundest  commercial  principles, 
begotten  of  necessity,  and  joyfully  welcomed  by  the  naturally 
adventurous  spirit  of  the  man,  he  carried  out  with  the  au- 
dacity, the  judgment,  and  the  energy,  which  so  highly  distin- 
guished him.  The  solitary  position  of  his  estate  upon  the 
long  promontory,  with  the  open  sea  on  one  side  and  a  narrow 
strait  on  the  other,  was  as  if  it  had  been  made  for  the  very 
purpose.  If  before  the  dealings  were  in  boat-loads,  now 
whole  ships'  cargoes  were  received  at  once,  or  in  a  couple  of 
nights,  and  stored  in  the  cellars  of  his  castle,  from  which 
they  were  gradually  delivered  to  the  purchasers,  the  neigh- 
boring proprietors,  and  the  tradespeople  in  the  small  towns 
of  the  islan'd  and  the  little  seaports  of  the  mainland. 

This  part  of  the  business  was  chiefly  undertaken  by  Smith 
Pinnow.  Smith  Pinnow  had  been  long  known  to  be  a 
smuggler,  had  been  frequently  overhauled  by  the  officers  of 
justice,  and  more  than  once  punished,  when  of  a  sudden  he 
found  that  he  was  going  blind,  had  to  wear  great  blue  spec- 
tacles, and  could  only  in  very  fine  weather,  with  the  help  of 
his  deaf  and  dumb  apprentice  Jacob,  take  some  of  the  bathing- 
guests  at  Uselin  out  in  his  cutter  for  an  hour  or  two's  sail. 
This  affliction  befel  the  worthy  man  just  at  the  time  that  the 
great  smuggler-captain  on  the  island,  whose  attention  had 
been  drawn  to  so  highly  qualified  an  assistant,  one  night 
paid  a'visit  to  the  forge,  and  took  him,  so  to  speak,  into  his 
service.  From  that  time  forth  the  two  acted  in  concert ;  and 
by  the  time  the  four  years  had  passed,  the  smith  had  amassed 
so  much  money  that  he  would  never  have  thought  of  betray- 
ing his  chief,  had  not  jealousy  got  the  upper  hand  of  the 
old  sinner.  "  If  you  do  not  leave  the  girl  in  peace,  I  will 
shoot  you  down  like  a  dog,"  the  Wild  Zehren  had  said ;  and 
Smith  Pinnow  was  not  the  man  to  quietly  put  up  with  such 


214  Hammer  and  Anvil.   ' 

a  threat,  especially  when  he  knew  in  what  deadly  earnest  it 
was  uttered. 

From  that  time  a  rumor,  of  which  no  one  knew  the  source, 
spread  abroad  in  the  city,  but  especially  in  the  offices  of  the 
customs,  that  the  Wild  Zehren  at  Zehrendorf  was  the  soul 
of  the  whole  smuggling  trade,  which  was  carried  on  with 
such  activity  for  leagues  up  and  down  the  coast.  At  first 
no  one  gave  credit  to  the  rumor.  To  be  sure  the  Wild  Zeh- 
ren was  a  man  whose  name  was  used  as  a  bugbear  to 
frighten  children  with  in  Uselin  ;  and  no  doubt  things  were 
known  or  believed  of  him  which  people  hardly  ventured  to 
whisper — he  had  stabbed  his  brother-in-law,  he  had  horribly 
maltreated  his  wife  and  afterwards  drowned  her  in  the  tarn 
in  the  woods,  and  more  of  the  same  sort — but  these  were 
things  that  were  to  be  expected  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  while 
smuggling — no,  it  was  not  possible  !  A  man  of  the  most 
ancient  nobility,  and  whose  brother  moreover  was  the  high- 
est officer  of  the  Revenue  Department  in  the  province  ! 

This  was  the  general  opinion.  But  now  and  th«n  there 
would  be  a  voice  heard,  but  very  softly  indeed,  remarking 
that  however  different  the  brothers  might  be  in  disposition, 
mode  of  life,  and  even  in  person,  they  resembled  each  other 
at  least  in  this,  that  both  were  deeply  in  debt ;  and  similar 
causes  might  very  well  produce  similar  effects.  If  the  Wild 
Zehren's  undertakings  had  been  accompanied  with  such  ex- 
traordinary good  fortune  during  these  years,  the  reason 
probably  was  that  the  custom-officers  had  no  clue  to  his 
movements,  while  he,  for  his  part,  was  perfectly  well  in- 
formed when  and  where  there  was  no  risk  of  meeting  any 
of  them. 

The  matter  might  still  have  been  long  quietly  argued //v 
and  con,  had  not  an  unlucky  chance  happened  to  give  effect 
to  Smith  Pinnow's  treachery.  In  the  same  night  when  Pin- 
now  and  Jock  Swart,  who  could  have  turned  traitof  to  his 
master  from  no  other  cause  than  sheer  black-heartedness, 
lodged  their  information  with  Customs-revisor  Braun,  the 
provincial  customs-director  arrived  in  Uselin.  The  revisor, 
who  belonged  to  the  party  that  distrusted  their  chief,  did 
not  go  to  the  latter,  as  he  would  certainly  have  contrived 
to  render  the  denunciation  harmless ;  but  went  straight  to 
the  director,  who  at  once  laid  his  plans  with  great  skill  and 


Hammer  and  Anvit. 


215 


forethought,  to  strike  a  strong  blow  at  the  smugglers,  in  which 
he  succeeded  but  too  well. 

Was  the  steuerrath  guilty  ?  There  was  no  direct  proof  of 
the  fact,  if  it  was  a  fact.  The  steuerrath  had  always  de- 
clared that  for  a  long  time  he  had  broken  off  all  personal 
intercourse  with  his  brother,  whose  conduct — though  in  truth 
he  was  greatly  reformed  of  late — was  of  a  nature  to  com- 
promise a  faithful  public  officer.  And  in  truth,  the  Wild 
Zehren  had  in  the  last  year  never  been  seen  with  his  brother, 
nor  even  in  the  city.  If,  notwithstanding,  there  had  been 
any  personal  intercourse  between  them,  their  meetings  must 
have  been  kept  extremely  secret.  Any  letters  he  might  have 
received  from  his  brother,  the  steuerrath  would  of  course  have 
destroyed  ;  and  if  the  Wild  Zehren  was  less  cautious,  he  was 
now  dead,  his  castle  burned  to  the  ground — who  or  what  was 
there  to  bear  witness  against  the  steuerrath  ? 

I  was  the  only  one  who  could  have  done  it.  I  remembered 
well  the  expressions  which  Herr  von  Zehren  had  always  used 
in  speaking  of  his  brother ;  I  knew  that  this  last  expedition 
had  been  made  chiefly  on  that  brother's  account.  I  had  held 
in  my  hands  the  proof  of  his  guilt,  and — destroyed  it. 

It  seemed  as  if  something  of  the  sort  was  suspected. 
Suddenly  the  name  of  the  steuerrath  made  its  appearance  in 
the  examinations  to  which  I  was  subjected,  and  I  was  closely 
questioned  as  to  what  I  knew  of  the  relations  between  Herr 
von  Zehren  and  his  brother.  I  firmly  denied  all  knowledge 
of  anything  of  the  kind. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  said  Assessor  Perleberg,  "  why  do  you 
wish  to  screen  the  man  ?  In  the  first  place,  he  does  not  de- 
serve to  be  spared,  for  he  is  a  bad  subject,  take  him  as  you 
will ;  and  in  the  second  place,  you  thus  do  yourself  irrepara- 
ble injury.  I  will  tell  you  beforehand,  you  will  not  get  off 
with  less  than  five  years,  for  in  the  first  place -" 

^^  For  God's  sake  let  me  alone  ! "  I  said. 

"You  grow  less  reasonable  every  day,"  said  Assessor 
Perleberg. 

And  he  was  quite  right ;  but  it  would  have  been  a  marvel 
had  it  been  otherwise. 

I  had  been  confined  now  for  nearly  half  a  year  in  a  cell 
but  half  lighted  by  a  small  grated  window,  and  which  I  could 
traverse  with  four  steps  lengthways  and  with  three  across. 


2l6 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


This  was  a  hard  trial  for  a  young  man  like  me,  but  harder, 
much  harder,  were  the  mental  sufferings  that  I  endured.  The 
confidence  in  humankind  which  had  hitherto  filled  my  heart, 
was  all  now  gone.  That  no  one  visited  me  in  my  prison,  I 
could  lay  to  the  account  of  Justizrath  Heckepfennig,  who 
felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  see  that  so  dangerous  a  man  held  no 
communication  with  the  outer  world  ;  but  that  men  to  whom 
I  had  done  nothing,  or  at  the  worst  had  perhaps  at  some 
time  or  other,  in  my  clumsy  way,  ruffled  their  pride  a  little, 
should  set  their  hearts  upon  trampling  a  fallen  man  still 
deeper  into  the  dust — ^this  I  could  not  forgive  ;  this  it  was 
that  filled  my  soul  with  bitterness  unspeakable.  Ten  wit- 
nesses were  called  to  prove  my  previous  good  character  ;  and 
of  these  ten  there  was  but  one,  and  that  one  the  man  whom 
of  all  others  I  had  most  deeply  wounded — Professor  Led- 
erer — ^who  ventured  to  say  some  words  in  my  behalf,  and  to 
put  up  a  timid  plea  for  lenity.  All  the  rest — old  friends  of 
my  father,  neighbors,  fathers  whose  sons  had  been  my  friends 
and  companions — all  could  hardly  find  words  to  express 
what  a  miscreant  I  had  been  all  my  life  long.  And  good 
heaven !  what  had  I  done  to  them  ?  Perhaps  I  had  filled 
the  pipe  of  one  with  saw-dust ;  I  had  caught  a  pair  of  pig- 
eons that  belonged  to  another ;  the  son  of  a  third  I  had  sent 
home  with  a  bloody  nose — and  this  was  all. 

I  could  not  comprehend  it,  but  so  much  of  it  as  I  did  un- 
derstand, filled  me  with  inexpressible  bitterness,  which  once 
even  broke  out  into  indignant  tears  when  I  learned  through 
my  counsel  that  Arthur — the  Arthur  whom  I  had  so  dearly 
loved — ^when  interrogated  as  to  his  association  with  me,  de- 
clared that  for  years  I  had  talked  to  him  about  turning 
smuggler,  and  had  even  attempted  to  persuade  him  to  join 
me  ;  that  I  had  always  been  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with 
Smith  Pinnow,  and  that  if  he  were  asked  if  he  believed  me 
capable  of  the  crime  laid  to  my  charge,  he  must  answer  un- 
equivocally Yes. 

"  That  ruins  you,"  said  Assessor  Perleberg.  "  You  will 
not  get  off  under  seven  years ;  for  in  the  first  place " 

I  brushed  away  the  tears  that  were  streaming  down  my 
ckeeks,  burst  into  a  wild  laugh,  and  then  fell  into  a  paroxysm 
of  frantic  rage,  which  finally  gave  place  to  a  stony  apathy. 
I  still  felt  a  kind  of  interest  in  the  sparrows  that  I  had  taught 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  217 

to  come  every  morning  and  share  my  ration  of  bread  ;  but 
all  other  things  were  indifferent  to  me.  I  learned,  without 
feeling  any  special  interest  in  the  news,  that  Constance  was 
already  deserted  by  her  princely  lover,  who  had  yielded  to 
the  entreaties  and  threats  of  his  father ;  that  Hans  von 
Trantow  had  disappeared  and  no  one  knew  what  had  become 
of  him,  but  the  general  opinion  was  that  he  had  met  with 
some  accident  in  the  forest  or  on  the  moor  ;  that  old  Chris- 
tian had  never  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  young  mis- 
tress's flight,  his  master's  death,  and  the  burning  of  the 
castle,  and  had  been  found  one  morning  lying  dead  among 
the  ruins  which  he  could  never  be  prevailed  on  to  leave  ;  and 
that  old  Pahlen  had  escaped  from  the  jail  at  B.  in  which  she 
had  been  confined.  I  heard  all  this  with  indifference,  and 
with  similar  apathy  I  received  my  sentence. 

Assessor  Perleberg,  with  his  "  first  place  "  and  "  second 
place,"  had  been  perfectly  right.  I  was  condemned  to  seven 
years'  imprisonment  in  the  prison  at  S. 

"  You  may  think  yourself  lucky,"  said  Assessor  Perleberg. 
*'  I  would  have  condemned  you  to  ten  years  and  to  hard 
labor  ;  for  in  the  first  place " 

It  was  no  doubt  a  mark  of  youthful  levity  that  I  had  no 
ears  for  the  very  learned  and  instructive  exposition  of  my 
counsel,  and  that  too  when  it  was  my  last  opportunity.  But 
I  was  really  thinking  of  something  quite  different.  I  was 
thinking  what  the  Wild  Zehren  would  have  done  had  he 
been  alive  and  learned  that  they  had  shut  up  his  faithful 
squire  in  prison  and  placed  his  own  brother  as  jailor  over 
him. 


CHAPTER     II. 

IT  was  an  evening  of  May,  as  the  wagon  in  which  I  was 
conveyed,  escorted  by  two  mounted  gendarmes,  drew 
near  the  place  of  my  destination.     On  the  left  of  the 
road,  which  was  lined  with  stunted  fruit-trees,  I  saw  num- 
bers of  laborers  working  on  the  new  turnpike  which  was  to 
xo 


2l8 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


connect  my  native  town  with  the  provincial  metropolis ;  on 
the  right,  open  meadow-land  stretched  away  to  the  sea, 
which  was  visible  as  a  wide  dark-blue  streak.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  water,  from  a  low  beach  of  sand,  green  fields 
sloped  upwards  to  a  moderately  high  upland  which  was 
crowned  with  woods.  This  was  the  island,  which  here  lay 
much  nearer  the  mainland  than  it  did  near  Uselin,  and 
which  I  now  beheld  again  for  the  first  time.  Before  me, 
still  more  than  a  mile  distant,  I  could  perceive  two  towers 
rising  high  above  a  range  of  hills  that  we  were  slowly 
approaching. 

My  feelings  were  strange.  During  the  whole  journey  I 
had  been  looking  through  the  rents  in  the  cover  of  the  little 
wagon,  but  only  watching  for  ari  opportunity  of  escape.  But 
however  determined  I  was  to  seize  the  very  first  that  pre- 
sented itself,  there  was  none,  not  even  the  slightest.  The 
two  gendarmes,  of  whom  one  was  one  of  those  who  had 
hunted  me  in  vain  upon  the  island,  rode  on  the  right  and  left 
close  behind  the  wagon  without  exchanging  a  word,  their 
moustachioed  faces  looking  straight  between  their  horses' 
ears,  or  turned  sideways  towards  the  wagon.  There  was  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that  the  first  movement  that  looked  like 
an  attempt  to  escape  would  bring  the  butts  of  their  carbines 
to  their  shoulders.  To  make  the  attempt  in  the  presence 
of  two  well-armed,  well  mounted,  and  thoroughly  determined 
men,  would  have  been  to  seek,  not  liberty,  but  death. 

And  none  of  the  chances  had  happened  which  I  had  im- 
agined possible.  We  had  passed  no  bridge  over  which  I 
might  have  leapt  into  a  torrent,  we  had  entered  no  crowded 
market-place  in  which  I  might  have  sprung  into  the  throng, 
and  perhaps  found  shelter  with  some  compassionate  soul. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  ;  we  travelled  the  seven  or  eight  miles 
of  the  journey  at  a  walk,  or  a  short  trot,  without  a  single 
halt,  and  without  an  interruption  of  any  kind,  and  now 
before  me  rose  the  towers  in  whose  shadow  lay  my  prison. 

And  yet  at  this  time  I  no  longer  felt  the  wrath  and  burning 
indignation  which  had  filled  my  breast  the  whole  time  that  I 
was  in  custody  under  examination.  The  two  hours  in  the 
open  air  had  done  me  inexpressible  good.  It  had  been  raining 
for  some  time  before,  and  I  had  held  out  my  hands  to  catch 
the  drops  ;  I  had  inhaled  with  delight  the  fresh  air  that  blew 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  219 

into  the  wagon.  Now  the  sun  had  again  broken  through  the '^^ 
clouds,  and,  as  it  was  near  its  setting,  cast  long  ruddy  streaks 
over  the  green  sprouting  fields  and  the  sparkling  meadows. 
Birds  sang  and  twittered  in  the  trees  by  the  wayside ;  just  be- 
fore us  in  the  east  stood  a  brilliant  rainbow  with  one  foot  on 
the  mainland,  and  the  other  on  the  island.  All  nature 
seemed  so  calm  and  gentle,  so  free  from  hate  or  anger ;  on 
the  contrary  all  things  wore  so  mild  a  beauty  and  breathed 
such  sweet  peace,  that  I  who  from  a  child  had  sympathized 
with  every  mood  of  nature,  could  not  close  my  heart  to  her 
soft  solicitations.  My  heart  sang  with  the  birds  ;  it  floated 
on  the  moist  pinions  of  the  gentle  breeze  that  bore  blessings 
over  the  fields  and  meadows ;  it  bathed  in  the  bright  hues  of 
the  bow  of  hope,  which  sprang  from  earth  to  heaven  and 
back  to  earth  again.  The  feeling  that  I  was,  as  it  were,  a 
part  of  all  these,  and  yet  was  sitting  a  prisoner  in  the  jail- 
van,  begat  in  me  such  a  sense  of  pity  for  myself  as  I  had 
never  before  experienced.  I  covered  my  face  with  my  hands  y 
and  wept. 

The  sun  had  now  set ;  the  eastern  and  western  skies  were 
glowing  with  the  most  splendid  hues  as  the  van  rolled  through 
the  town-gate,  rattled  up  two  or  three  narrow,  badly-paved 
streets,  and  stopped  at  last  at  a  gateway  in  a  high  dead-wall. 
The  gate  slowly  opened,  the  van  rolled  across  a  wide  yard 
shut  in  on  all  sides  with  lofty  blank  walls  and  tall,  gloomy- 
looking  buildings,  to  the  gate  of  the  tallest  and  most  forbid- 
ding of  these,  and  there  stopped.  I  had  reached  the  place 
where  I  was  to  spend  seven  years  because  I  had  endeavored 
to  guard  my  friend  and  protector  from  the  results  of  a  crime 
which  I  myself  abhorred. 

Seven  years  !  I  was  determined  that  it  should  not  be  so 
long.  I  had  read  the  adventures  of  Baron  Trenck,  and  knew 
that  it  was  possible  to  pierce  thick  masonry  and  undermine 
great  fortress-walls.  What  he  had  succeeded  in  doing,  I 
thought  I  could  not  fail  to  accomplish. 

So  my  first  proceeding,  when  the  door  closed  behind  the 
surly  warden,  was  to  examine  my  cell  as  closely  as  the  faint 
remains  of  daylight  would  allow.  If  all  the  prisoners  were 
so  well  lodged,  there  were  certainly  many  of  them  that  fared 
much  worse  when  at  liberty.  The  walls  of  the  small  room 
were  simply  whitewashed,  it  is  true  ;  but  so  were  those  of 


220 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


my  garret  at  home.  There  was  an  iron  bedstead  with  what 
seemed  a  very  comfortable  bed,  a  clothes-press,  at  the  soli- 
tary window  a  large  table  with  a  drawer,  two  wooden  chairs, 
and,  to  my  surprise,  a  great  arm-chair  covered  with  leather, 
which  strongly  reminded  me  of  the  one  in  my  room  at  Castle 
Zehrendorf 

Yes,  I  was  again  the  guest  of  a  Zehren,  though  this  time 
he  was  only  the  superintendent  of  a  prison.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  Zehrens  were  inextricably  woven  into  my  life.  They 
had  brought  me  but  little  good  fortune  ;  and  the  proud  lustre 
that  had  formerly  seemed  to  me  to  illume  the  name,  had 
greatly  paled  in  my  eyes.  The  steuerrath,  in  whom  the  boy 
had  beheld  the  incarnation  of  the  highest  earthly  authority, 
what  was  he  in  the  eyes  of  the  prisoner  but  a  liar  and  hypo- 
crite who  had  ten-fold  and  a  hundred-fold  deserved  the  mis- 
fortunes he  had  brought  upon  men  who  were  better  than  he  ? 
And  the  man  here,  who,  sprung  from  such  a  family,  had 
been  willing  to  undertake  such  an  office  as  his,  must  be  even 
worse  than  the  h)rpocrite  and  liar.  I  would  let  him  feel  the 
full  measure  of  my  contempt  when  I  met  him  ;  I  would  tell 
him  that  if  he  chose  to  be  a  jailor,  he  ought  at  least  to  re- 
nounce the  name  which  his  noble  brother  had  borne,  who 
preferred  dying  by  his  own  hand  to  falling  into  the  hands 
of  those  who  would  have  brought  him  here,  behind  this 
triply-bolted  door,  and  these  windows  with  massive  bars  of; 
iron. 

The  window  was  bv  no  means  so  higch  as  those  in  the 
guard-house,  and  I  looked  with  curiosity  through  the  bars. 
The  prospect  might  have  been  worse.  True,  a  high  and 
perfectly  blank  wall  shut  out  the  view  to  the  left,  but  on  the 
right  I  could  see  into  a  court  planted  with  trees,  in  which  at 
no  great  distance  was  a  two-storyed  house  presenting  a  gable 
covered  entirely  with  vines.  Behind  the  house  there  seemed 
to  be  a  garden :  at  least  I  could  catch  glimpses  of  fruit- 
trees  in  blossom.  All  this  had  a  very  lovely  and  peace- 
ful appearance  in  the  dim  light  of  the  spring  evening  ;  and 
the  shrill  twittering  of  the  swallows  that  skimmed  in  flocks 
past  my  window,  might  have  made  me  forget  that  I  was  a 
tenant  of  a  prison,  had  I  not  been  painfully  reminded  of  it 
by  the  sharp  angle  of  one  of  the  bars  against  which  I  had 
pressed  my  forehead. 


Hummer  and  Anvil.  221 

I  seized  the  bar  with  both  my  hands,  and  shook  it  with 
my  whole  force.  Six  months  of  confinement  had  not 
deprived  my  muscles  of  their  strength,  as  I  well  perceived. 
I  felt  as  if  with  one  wrench  I  could  bring  away  the  whole 
grating.  Did  I  deceive  myself,  or  did  it  yield  a  little  ?  I 
was  not  mistaken  ;  either  the  screws  were  loose,  or  the 
wood-work  decayed  ;  I  could  not  at  the  moment  determine 
which ;  but  this  seemed  no  grating  that  could  hold  me. 
My  heart  beat  with  the  exertion  and  the  joyful  surprise.  I  had 
vowed  to  myself  that  they  should  not  keep  me  seven  years ! 
But  caution  !  it  was  not  the  grating  alone  that  made  a  pris- 
oner of  me.  Were  the  grating  away,  there  was  a  depth  of  at 
least  thirty  feet  to  the  stone  pavement  of  the  court.  And 
were  I  safely  down,  there  were  doubtless  other  difficulties  to 
overcome,  and  a  baffled  attempt  at  escape  might  make  my 
position  incalculably  worse. 

I  heard  a  rustling  in  the  passage.  Footsteps  drew  near 
and  came  to  my  door.  I  sprang  back  from  the  window  and 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  when  there  was  a  rattling 
of  keys  on  the  outside,  the  door  opened,  and  a  man  of  tall 
stature  entered,  passing  the  turnkey,  and  the  door  was 
closed  after  him.  He  stood  for  a  moment  at  the  threshold, 
and  then  approached  me  with  a  peculiar  light  step.  From 
the  ruddy  evening  clouds  there  still  fell  a  pale  rosy  light 
into  the  room  ;  in  this  rosy  glow  I  always  see  him  again 
when  I  think  of  him — and  how  often  do  I  think  of  him,  with 
the  deepest  emotions  of  gratitude  and  love  ! 

Over  the  table  at  which  I  am  writing  these  words,  hangs 
his  portrait,  painted  by  a  beloved  hand.  It  is  a  most  perfect 
likeness.  It  would  recall  to  my  memory  every  feature,  every 
line,  were  it  possible  that  I  could  forget  them.  And  now, 
did  I  close  my  eyes,  he  would  stand  before  me  again  as  he 
stood  on  that  evening,  in  the  rosy  sunset  light,  and  not  less 
clearly  would  I  hear  his  voice,  whose  soft,  deep  tone  I  then 
heard  for  the  first  time,  and  whose  first  word  was  one  of  pity 
and  sympathy. 

"  Poor  youth  !  " 

How  deeply  must  the  prison  air  have  poisoned  my  heart, 
that  these  words  and  the  tone  in  which  they  were  spoken  did 
not  move  me  !  Alas,  it  is  one  of  my  most  painful  recollections 
that  this  was  so ;  that  I  rudely  repulsed  the  hand  of  the 


222 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


noblest  of  men,  and  deliberately  wounded  the  kindest  heart 
on  earth.  But  the  narrative  of  my  life  would  have  no  worth, 
if  my  faults  were  not  honestly  set  down.  And  I  have  often 
thought  that  I  might  not  have  learned  to  love  him  so  well 
had  I  been  less  obdurate  at  first,  had  I  not  given  him  the 
occasion  to  heap  upon  me  all  the  wealth  of  his  benevolence  and 
love.  And  yet  I  err  in  this.  Jewels  of  the  costliest  price, 
of  the  purest  water,  need  no  dark  foil. 

"  Poor  youth  !  "  he  said  again,  and  held  out  his  white  and 
almost  transparent  hand  ;  but  let  it  fall  again,  when,  instead 
of  taking  it  and  pressing  it  with  reverence  to  my  lips,  as  I 
should  have  done  had  I  known  him,  I  folded  my  arms  and 
stepped  back. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  sounded,  if  possible,  still 
gentler  than  before,  "  it  is  very  hard,  very  cruel,  the  fate 
which  has  befallen  you  for  a  crime  which,  whatever  it  may 
be  in  the  eyes  of  the  judge  who  must  follow  the  stern  letter 
of  the  law,  in  the  eyes  of  others  merits  a  milder  name,  for  at 
least  it  does  in  mine.  I  am  the  brother  of  the  man  for  whose 
fault  you  are  suffering." 

He  seemed  to  expect  an  answer  from  me,  or  at  least  some 
word  of  acknowledgement,  which  I  would  not  give.  I  would 
not  do  my  jailor  the  favor  to  help  him  in  his  attempt  to  show 
himself  in  another  light  than  that  in  which  I  saw  him. 

"  It  is  a  strange  caprice  of  fortune,"  he  continued,  after  a 
short  pause,  always  in  the  same  gentle  manner,  "  that  one 
brother  should  to  a  certain  extent  be  the  instrument  of  pun- 
ishing you  for  the  injury  which  another  has  done  you — a 
chance  for  which  I  am  thankful,  and  which  I  think  I  shall 
rightly  employ  by — but  of  this  another  time.  To-day  the 
gloomy  shadow  of  the  first  dreary  impression  a  place  like 
this  must  make  upon  a  spirit  like  yours,  lies  too  heavily  upon 
you  ;  though  I  could  speak  with  the  tongues  of  angels,  I 
could  find  no  entrance  to  your  heart,  which  is  closed  by  anger 
and  hatred.  I  have  merely  come  to  perform  a  duty  which 
my  office  and  I  may  say  my  heart  prescribes.  And  this  also 
is  my  duty,  so  that  you  may  freely  answer  me  without  feeling 
that  your  pride  is  making  concessions.  Have  you  any  wish 
that  it  is  in  my  power  to  grant  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  answered,  "  for  you  could  hardly  give  me  a  day's 
shooting  over  the  heaths  of  Zehrendorf," 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  223 

A  sad  smile  played  around  the  superintendent's  delicate 
lips. 

*'  I  have  heard,"  he  said,  "  that  you  used  to  hunt  much 
with  my  brother,  and  that  you  are  yourself  a  skilful  hunter. 
The  hunter's  nature  is  a  peculiar  one.  I  think  I  understand 
it,  for  I  was  born  with  the  hunter's  instincts  ;  but  there  is  no 
room  for  its  exercise  in  these  court-yards  and  gardens.  I 
seldom  have  a  holiday,  and  still  more  rarely  avail  myself  of 
it ;  and  in  this  respect  I  enjoy,  and  indeed  desire,  but  little 
advantage  over  my  prisoners.  So  it  would  be  a  hard  trial 
for  me,  if  with  the  old  passion  I  still  possessed  my  former 
vigor ;  and  thus  I  may  almost  count  it  a  piece  of  good  for- 
tune that  at  the  Battle  of  Leipzig  I  was  shot  through  the 
lungs,  so  that  it  would  avail  me  nothing  though  I  had  the 
range  of  the  boundless  hunting-grounds  of  America.  I  have 
since  learned  to  confine  my  activity  within  narrower  limits. 
My  favorite  recreation  is  the  turning-lathe.  It  is  light  work, 
and  yet  often  proves  too  heavy  for  an  invalid  like  myself  I 
shall  probably  soon  give  it  up,  and  must  choose  some  still 
lighter  work.  But  I  should  not  like  to  find  myself  con- 
demned to  absolute  inactivity.  You  do  not  now  know,  but 
you  will  soon  learn,  how  great  a  blessing  to  a  prisoner  is  a 
mechanical  occupation  which  fixes  his  wandering  thoughts 
upon  some  near  and  easily  obtainable  result  which  shapes 
itself  under  his  hand.  And  now  I  will  leave  you.  I  have 
still  two  visits  to  make,  besides  my  evening  round  through 
the  building.  One  thing  more  :  the  old  man  who  will  wait 
upon  you,  is,  despite  his  rough  ways,  a  thoroughly  good 
man,  whom  I  have  known  for  many  years,  and  who  has  ren- 
dered me  in  my  life  the  most  important  services.  You  can 
trust  him  absolutel3^  Now,  good-night,  and  good  sleep  to 
you,  and  dream  of  the  freedom  which  I  hope  you  will  sooner 
regain  than  you  now  think." 

He  gave  me  a  friendly  nod,  and  left  the  room  with  the 
slow,  light  step  with  which  he  had  entered.  I  looked  after 
him  with  fixed  eyes,  and  passed  my  hand  over  my  brow ;  the 
silent  cell  seemed  to  have  become  suddenly  darker. 


224 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


CHAPTER    II. 


I  WAS  still  standing  on  the  same  spot,  endeavoring  to  col- 
lect my  thoughts,  when  the  door  again  opened,  and  the 
old  turnkey  who  had  first  received  me,  entered  with  a 
lighted  candle,  which  he  placed  upon  the  table.  Then  re- 
turning to  the  door,  he  took  from  some  female  whose  form 
was  barely  perceptible,  a  waiter  upon  which  was  a  collation, 
and  even  a  bottle  of  wine.  He  laid  a  snow-white  napkin 
over  one  corner  of  the  great  oak  table,  placed  everything 
neatly  and  orderly,  took  a  step  back  and  cast  a  satisfied  look 
at  his  work,  then  an  angry  one  at  me,  and  said  with  a  voice 
which  strikingly  resembled  the  growl  of  a  great  mastiff: 
"  There  !  " 

"  It  seems  this  is  for  me,"  I  remarked,  indifferently. 

"  Don't  see  who  else  it  could  be  for,"  growled  the  old  man. 

The  roast  meat  on  the  dish  had  a  very  appetizing  odor ; 
for  half  a  year  I  had  not  tasted  a  drop  of  wine ;  and  what 
was  more,  I  did  not  feel  towards  the  surly  turnkey  the  aver- 
sion that  I  felt  towards  the  gently-speaking,  courteous  super- 
intendent ;  but  I  was  resolved  to  accept  no  favors  from  my 
jailor. 

"  I  owe  this  to  the  kindness  of  the  Herr  Superintendent  ?  " 
I  asked,  taking  my  seat  at  the  table. 

"  This  and  more,"  said  the  old  man. 

"  For  instance  ?  " 

"  For  instance,  that  one  has  our  best  cell,  with  a  look-out 
into  the  garden,  and  not  one  looking  into  the  prison-yard, 
where  neither  sunlight  nor  moonlight  erer  comes." 

"  Thanks,"  said  I,  "  anything  else  ? " 

"  That  one  can  wear  his  handsome  town-clothes,  instead 
of  unbleached  drilling ;  which  is  not  such  a  bad  rig,  though, 
after  all." 

"  Thanks,"  said  I ;  "  anything  else  t " 

"  And  that  one  has  Sergeant  Sfissmilch  for  warden." 

"  With  whom  I  have  the  honor  ?  " 

"  With  whom  one  has  the  honor." 
•    "Much  obliged." 

"  Well  you  may  be." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  225 

I  looked  up  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  man  whose  relation 
to  me  was  so  fraught  with  honor  and  advantage.  He  aj>- 
peared  to  be  above  fifty  years  of  age,  of  short,  compact  build, 
who  seemed  to  stand  remarkably  firmly  for  his  age  upon  his 
short  bowed  legs.  From  his  broad  shoulders  hung  a  pair  of 
quite  disproportionately  long  arms,  with  great  brown  hairy 
hands,  which  evidently  had  not  lost  their  strength  of  grasp. 
From  his  furrowed  and  wrinkled  face,  which  might  once  have 
been  good-looking,  twinkled  under  gray  bushy  eyebrows  a 
pair  of  clear,  good-humored  eyes,  which  in  vain  tried  to  look 
fierce  and  cruel.  His  smooth,  close-cropped  gray  hair  lay 
thick  above  his  bronzed  forehead ;  and  beneath  his  great 
hooked  nose,  like  an  eagle's  beak,  a  heavy  moustache  drooped 
on  either  side  far  below  his  firm  chin.  Sergeant  Siissmilch 
was,  in  later  years,  long  my  true  friend  ;  in  hours  of  trial  he 
rendered  me  priceless  services ;  he  taught  my  eldest  boys  to 
ride ;  and  when,  five  years  ago,  we  carried  him  to  his  last 
resting-place,  we  all  heartily  sorrowed  over  him ;  but  at  this 
moment  I  was  considering  what  amount  of  resistance  he 
would  be  likely  to  offer  in  a  contingency  which  I  deemed 
very  probable,  and  thought  that  I  should  be  sorry  to  have 
to  take  the  life  of  the  old  fellow  who  was  so  delightfully 
surly. 

"  If  one  has  looked  at  Sergeant  Siissmilch  long  enough, 
one  will  do  well  to  fall  to  the  supper,  which  is  getting  no  bet- 
ter by  standing,"  he  said. 

"It  may  stand  therefor  me,"  I  answered.  "I  have  no 
appetite  for  the  Herr  Superintendent's  roast  meat  and  wine." 

"  Might  as  well  have  said  so  at  once,"  growled  Herr  Siiss- 
milch, coiAmencing  to  replace  the  things  on  the  waiter. 

"  Who  the  deuce  was  to  know  what  your  custom  here  is," 
I  said  in  a  sulky  tone. 

"  The  custom  here  is  that  one  has  to  work  when  he  wants 
to  eat." 

"  That  is  not  true,"  I  said.  "  I  am  not  condemned  to  labor : 
I  was  sentenced  to  seven  years'  imprisonment,  and  should  by 
rights  have  been  sent  to  the  fortress,  where  decent  people 
go." 

"  Meaning  one's  self?  "  asked  Herr  Siissmilch. 

"  Meaning  one's  self." 

"  One  is  altogether  mistaken,"  he  replied,  having  by  this 
10* 


226 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


time  cleared  away  the  things.  "  In  the  prison  one  is  com- 
pelled to  work,  unless  one  has  a  father  or  some  one  who  will 
pay  for  his  keep.  In  this  case  one  has  a  father,  and  gets 
from  him  ten  silbergroschcn  daily." 

"  Herr  Siissmilch,"  I  cried,  stepping  up  to  the  old  man, 
"I  take  for  granted  that  you  are  telling  me  the  truth  ;  and 
now  I  give  you  my  word  that  I  will  rather  starve  in  the  dun- 
geon like  a  rat,  than  take  a  penny  from  my  father." 

"  One  will  be  of  another  way  of  thinking  to-morrow." 

"Never." 

"  Then  one  will  have  to  work." 

"  We  shall  see  about  that." 

"Yes,  we  shall  see." 

Siissmilch  went,  but  stopped  at  the  door,  and  remarked 
over  his  shoulder : 

"  One  wants,  then,  the  ordinary  diet,  such  as  every  one  re- 
ceives when  he  comes  here  ?  " 

"  One  wants  nothing  at  all,"  I  said,  turning  my  back  upon 
him. 

"No  light,  then,  for  that  is  extra  too." 

I  made  him  no  answer.  I  heard  the  old  man  go  to  the 
table,  take  the  light,  place  it  on  the  waiter,  and  move  to  the 
door.  There  he  paused,  apparently  to  see  if  I  would  change 
my  mind.  I  did  not  move.  He  coughed ;  I  took  no  notice. 
The  next  moment  I  was  alone  in  the  dark. 

"  To  the  devil  all  of  you,  with  your  smooth  ways  and  your 
rough  ways !  "  I  muttered  to  myself  "  I  want  the  one  as 
little  as  the  other,  and  I  will  be  under  obligations  to  no  one 
— no  one  !  " 

I  laughed  aloud,  seized  the  grating  of  the  window  and 
shook  it,  and  then  ran  up  and  down  the  dark  room  like 
some  wild  animal.  At  last  I  threw  myself  in  my  clothes 
upon  the  bed,  and  lay  there  in  gloomy  desperation  brooding 
over  my  fate,  which  had  never  before  seemed  to  me  so  in- 
tolerable. I  wrought  myself  up  to  a  pitch  of  wild  hatred 
against  all  who  had  had  any  share  in  my  ruin,  against  my 
judge,  my  counsel^  my  father,  the  whole  world  ;  strengthen- 
ing myself  in  my  resolution  not  to  abate  my  obduracy,  not 
to  ask  the  slightest  thing  of  any  one,  not  to  be  grateful  to 
any  one,  and  above  all  to  win  my  liberty,  cost  what  it  might. 

Thus  I  lay  for  long  hours.     At  last  I  slept  and  dreamed 


M: 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  227 

of  a  flowery  meadow  over  which  were  fluttering  gay  butter- 
flies which  I  tried  to  catch  but  could  not,  for  whenever  I 
touched  them  they  turned  to  red  roses.  And  the  red  roses, 
when  I  attempted  to  pluck  them,  began  to  flash  with  Hght 
and  ring  with  music,  and  flashing  and  ringing  they  floated  up 
to  heaven,  whence  they  looked  smiling  down  upon  me  as  the 
faces  of  blooming  maidens.  It  was  all  so  strange  and  sweet 
and  fair,  that  I  lay  upon  the  grass,  laughing  with  bliss.  But 
when  I  awaked  I  did  not  laugh.  When  I  awaked  Sussmilch 
stood  at  my  bed-side  and  said  :  "  Now  one  will  have  to  work." 


-o- 


CH  AFTER    III.         ■ 

FR  a  fortnight  I  had  been  doing  the  very  hardest  work 
which  at  the  time  was  to  be  had  in  the  establishment, 
which  combined  in  itself  the  features  of  a  work-house, 
jail,  and  penitentiary.  I  was  not  compelled  to  do  this  either 
by  the  letter  of  the  law  which  prescribed  that  prisoners  should 
be  employed  in  accordance  with  their  capabilities,  nor  by 
order  of  the  superintendent,  who  on  the  contrary  had  allowed 
me  to  choose  whatever  work  I  preferred.  Indeed  he  pro- 
posed to  me  to  draw  up  certain  lists,  and  make  out  certain 
accounts  which  happened  to  be  needed  in  the  office,  and  for 
which  the  materials  should  be  sent  to  my  cell.  For  exercise 
I  might  find  pleasant  and  healthful  work  in  the  large  garden, 
which  was  about  to  be  extended. 

I  replied — and  in  this  I  spoke  the  exact  truth — that  I  was 
but  a  poor  hand  at  accounts,  and  that  I  understood  nothing 
of  gardening.  I  should  prefer,  if  I  were  allowed  any  choice 
in  the  matter,  the  very  hardest  work  that  could  be  found. 
The  Herr  Superintendent  had  himself  remarked  that  work 
of  this  sort  was  the  most  suitable  to  a  man  of  my  constitu- 
tion. I  had  at  first  denied  this  ;  but  had  more  maturely 
considered  the  matter  and  found  that  the  superintendent 
was  right.  Indeed  I  must  confess  that  I  felt  an  irresistible 
desire  to  split  wood,  to  break  stone,  or  to  handle  great 
weights. 


228 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


< 


In  this,  too,  I  spoke  but  the  truth  My  powerful  frame  was 
really  suffering  from  the  compulsory  inactivity.  But  there 
were  other  reasons  besides  this  which  really  prompted  my 
request.  Though  I  scarcely  knew  it  myself,  most  of  my 
decisive  steps  were  taken  with  reference  to  my  father.  It 
was  in  a  spirit  of  defiance  to  him  that  I  had  left  his  house  ; 
it  was  in  defiance  to  him  that  I  had  given  myself  up  to  jus- 
tice ;  and  it  was  in  defiance  that  I  rejected  his  provision  for 
my  support  and  demanded  the  hardest  work.  He  should 
not  have  it  in  his  power  to  say  that  I  ever,  even  in  prison, 
was  a  burden  to  him ;  he  should  know  that  his  son  was 
treated  no  better  than  a  common  criminal,  which  indeed  he 
was  in  his  eyes. 

And  as  little  should  the  soft-speaking  superintendent  be 
able  to  say  that  he  had  dealt  out  to  the  young  man  who  came 
of  such  respectable  parents,  mercy  instead  of  justice. 

And  finally,  heavy  work  which  would  have  to  be  done  in 
the  open  air  must  offer  better  chances  for  the  execution  of  the 
plan  over  which  I  was  brooding  day  and  night,  the  plan  either 
by  cunning  or  force,  or  both  combined,  to  obtain  my  liberty. 

Now  it  is  true  that  the  work  in  the  garden  which  was  pro- 
posed to  me  perhaps  offered  still  greater  facilities  for  my 
purpose.  The  watch  that  would  be  kept  there  would  hardly 
be  very  strict,  especially  for  me,  whom  for  some  reason  or 
other  the  superintendent  seemed  so  particularly  disposed  to 
favor  ;  but  here  a  feeling  arose  within  me  which  would  prob- 
ably appear  singular  to  most  men  in  my  position,  and  yet  of 
which  I  have  no  cause  to  feel  ashamed. 

I  was  not  willing  to  abuse  any  confidence  that  might  be 
placed  in  me.  I  had  never  done  this  in  my  life  before ;  and 
I  would  not  learn  it  now,  not  even  though  a  prisoner,  not 
even  to  win  the  liberty  for  which  I  so  wildly  longed.  If  they 
set  me  to  work  with  the  common  criminals  condemned  to 
hard  labor,  they  would  probably  treat  me  and  watch  me  as 
one  of  them  ;  and  if  they  neglected  this,  so  much  the  worse 
for  them  who  made  the  distinction  at  their  own  risk,  and  so 
much  the  better  for  me  who  did  not  ask  to  be  spared,  and 
consequently  was  under  no  obligations  to  spare  any  one. 

These  thoughts  passed  through  my  mind  as  I  appeared 
before  the  superintendent  on  the  following  day — this  time 
in  his  office — and  presented  my  request  to  him. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  229 

He  looked  searchingly  at  me  with  his  large  gentle  eyes, 
and  answered  : 

"  Whoever  enters  this  place  as  a  prisoner,  is  an  unhappy 
man,  who  as  such  alone  is  entitled  to  my  compassion.  If 
your  fate  touches  me  more  nearly  than  the  rest,  the  reason  is 
so  clear  as  to  need  no  explanation.  You  have  rejected  the 
sympathy  which  I  proffered  you,  but  have  not  offended  me. 
From  what  I  know  of  you,  from  your  attitude  during  your 
trial,  this  was  what  I  had  to  expect.  Whether  you  do  well 
to  reject  the  provision  which  your  father  is  willing  to  make 
for  you,  I  greatly  doubt,  as  by  so  doing  you  but  widen  the 
breach  between  you  ;  and  in  any  circumstances  one  owes  a 
father  so  much,  that  one  can,  without  shame,  accept  even  a 
humiliation  at  his  hands.  But  this  matter  I  must  leave  to 
your  own  feelings.  If  you  wish  to  be  treated  as  a  common 
pauper  criminal,  who  has  to  work  for  his  maintenance,  I  had 
planned,  as  you  know,  work  for  you  better  suited  to  your 
capacities  and  your  education.  You  say  that  what  you 
desire  is  hard,  laborious  work.  It  may  be  so :  you  are  a 
man  of  very  unusual  bodily  strength,  and  the  confined  air 
of  a  prison  is  p>oison  to  both  your  mind  and  body.  You  have 
been  deeply  embittered  by  the  long  term  of  your  preliminary 
detention,  which  appears  to  have  been  unprecedentedly  rigor- 
ous. You  will  again,  I  am  convinced,  become  the  generous, 
good-natured,  noble  fellow  which  you  are  by  nature,  and 
which  in  my  eyes  you  still  are,  when  you  have  expanded 
this  deep  chest  with  pure  fresh  air,  and  your  torpid  circula- 
tion has  been  quickened  by  active  work.  You  need,  more- 
over, a  strong  counterpoise  to  the  passions  that  are  raging 
within  you.  So,  all  things  considered,  I  am  willing  to  grant 
your  request.  Siissmilch  shall  show  you  your  duties.  But 
I  tell  you  beforehand,  it  is  convicts'  work,  and  you  will  find 
yourself  in  very  bad  company  ;  so  much  the  earlier  will  you 
remember  the  difference  between  you  and  them." 

He  gave  me  a  friendly  look  and  wave  of  the  hand,  and 
dismissed  me.  A  feeling  which  I  could  not  explain  brought 
tears  to  my  eyes  as  I  turned  from  him  to  the  door,  but  I 
forced  them  back  and  said  to  myself  :  That  is  all  very  fine ; 
but  I  do  not  wish  to  be  good,  I  wish  to  be  free. 

At  the  extreme  corner  of  the  prison  wall,  upon  a  slight 
elevation,  there  was  a  new  infirmary  to  be  built.     Design, 


230  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

plans,  specifications,  had  all  been  prepared  by  the  superin- 
tendent himself,  who  was  an  excellent  architect,  and  the 
work  was  to  be  done  by  the  convicts.  They  were  now  dig- 
ging the  foundations.  It  was  a  heavy  piece  of  work.  An 
old  tower,  forming  part  of  the  city  wall,  had  once  stood  upon 
the  spot  the  ruins  of  which  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  had 
first  crumbled  to  rubbish,  and  then  become  consolidated 
into  a  compact  mass  which  had  to  be  broken  up  with  the 
pick  until  the  old  foundation-wall  was  reached,  which  was  to 
serve  in  part  for  the  new  building. 

About  twenty  men  were  employed  on  this  work.  Sergeant 
Siissmilch  had  the  general  supervision  of  it,  and  indeed,  I 
being  the  only  prisoner  under  his  immediate  charge,  had 
nothing  else  to  do,  the  convicts  from  the  penitentiary  being 
under  the  charge  of  two  overseers.  The  most  of  these  con- 
victs, of  whom  the  majority  were  young  men,  and  all  strong 
and  well  fitted  for  such  work,  looked  as  any  men  would  look 
dressed  in  coarse  drilling,  working  under  the  eyes  of  a  pair 
of  stalwart  overseers,  and  forbidden  to  smoke,  to  whistle,  to 
sing,  or  to  speak  in  a  low  tone.  This  latter  prohibition  first 
struck  me  upon  hearing  Sflssmilch  give  to  one  who  had  at- 
tempted to  open  a  private  conversation  with  his  neighbor,  in  a 
very  emphatic  tone  the  warning  :  "  One  has  no  secrets  here  ; 
one  can  talk  loud  or  hold  his  tongue." 

This  warning  was  most  frequently  given  to  one  particular 
convict,  with  the  additional  remark  that  he  had  every  reason 
to  be  careful. 

This  was  a  fellow  of  Herculean  frame,  the  only  one  that 
had  what  might  be  called  a  thorough  gallows-face,  and  who 
owed  his  precious  life  only  to  the  circumstance  that  a  mur- 
der of  which  he  was  most  vehemently  suspected,  could  not 
quite  be  brought  home  to  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  judges.  He 
was  named  Kaspar,  and  his  fellow-convicts  called  him  Cat- 
Kaspar,  because  he  was  believed  to  possess  the  mysterious 
faculty  of  seeing  in  the  dark  as  well  as  in  broad  daylight, 
and,  notwithstanding  the  gigantic  breadth  of  his  shoulders, 
of  creeping  through  holes  only  large  enough  to  allow  the 
passage  of  a  cat. 

From  the  very  first  day  I  had  made  a  conquest  of  this 
richly-gifted  man.  While  the  others  watched  me  with  sus- 
picious side-glances,  never  spoke  a  word  to  me,  and  visibly 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  231 

avoided  me,  Cat-Kaspar  sought  every  opportunity  to  be  near 
me ;  made  furtive  signals  with  his  eyes,  first  looking  at  me 
and  then  at  the  overseers,  and  gave  me  in  every  way  to  un- 
derstand that  he  wished  to  enter  into  more  intimate  relations, 
and  especially  that  he  wished  to  speak  with  me. 

I  confess  that  I  felt  the  strongest  abhorrence  for  the  man, 
whose  nature  was  plainly  enough  indicated  by  a  low  forehead 
almost  covered  by  his  hair,  a  pair  of  evil,  poisonous  eyes, 
and  a  great  brutal  mouth  ;  and  any  one  would  have  felt  the 
impulse  to  shun  him  even  without  the  knowledge  that  his 
hands  were  stained  with  blood.  But  I  mastered  this  instinc- 
tive aversion,  for  I  said  to  myself  that  this  man  would  have 
decision  enough  for  any  venture,  and  dexterity  and  strength 
enough  to  carry  out  any  plan.  So  I  also  sought  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  near  him,  but  did  not  succeed  until  we  had  been 
working  together  for  a  fortnight.  I  had  hardly  effected  this, 
when  I  made  the  discovery  that  Cat-Kaspar,  in  addition  to 
the  accomplishments  of  which  I  had  heard,  possessed  an- 
other, which  I  afterwards  found  out  to  be  easily  acquired. 
This  art  consisted  in  a  most  perfect  imitation  of  a  yawn,  and 
while  holding  the  hand  to  the  open  mouth,  forming  by  means 
of  the  tongue  and  teeth  certain  sounds  which,  when  closely 
listened  to,  could  be  detected  to  be  words.  Thus  for  the 
first  time  I  heard,  to  my  no  small  astonishment,  from  the 
midst  of  the  most  natural  yawn  in  the  world,  the  words : 
"The  great  stone — help  me." 

What  he  meant  I  learned  a  few  minutes  later. 

They  had  recently  been  hauling  stone  for  the  foundations, 
and  a  particularly  large  one,  through  the  clumsiness  of  the 
wagoners,  had  rolled  into  the  foundation  at  a  place  where  it 
was  not  needed.  It  seemed  a  matter  of  impossibility  to  get 
it  out  again  without  erecting  apparatus  for  the  purpose. 
Sergeant  Sussmilch  swore  at  their  cursed  stupidity,  which 
would  now  cause  an  hour  or  more  of  unnecessary  work.  Cat- 
Kaspar,  after  he  had  given  me  the  mysterious  hint,  suddenly 
raised  his  voice  and  said  : 

"What  is  the  great  difficulty,  Herr  Stissmilch?  I  will 
undertake  it,  single-handed." 

"  Yes,  if  a  big  mouth  could  do  it,"  growled  Herr  Suss- 
milch. 

The  rest  laughed.     Cat-Kaspar   called  them  a  pack  of 


232  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

toadies,  and  said  that  it  was  an  easy  thing  to  crack  jokes  and 
laugh  at  an  honest  fellow  who  was  not  allowed  to  show  what 
he  could  do. 

Cat-Kaspar  knew  his  man.  The  honest  sergeant  turned 
red  in  the  face  ;  he  pulled  his  long  moustache,  and  said  : 

"  In  the  first  place,  no  arguments ;  in  the  second  place, 
one  may  show  now  what  he  can  do."  '  j 

In  an  instant  Cat-Kaspar  had  seized  an  immense  crowbar 
and  sprung  into  the  foundation. 

The  stone  lay  upon  the  incline  covered  with  planks  by 
which  the  rubbish  and  earth  were  hauled  away,  and  a  giant,  by 
means  of  a  lever,  might  perhaps  have  rolled  it  up.  Cat-Kaspar 
certainly  exhibited  very  surprising  strength.  Thrusting  his 
bar  under  the  stone,  he  raised  it  so  far  that  it  required  but 
little  more  to  turn  it  over.  The  exertion  of  strength  was 
really  so  astonishing,  that  the  men  hurrahed,  and  the  atten- 
tion of  even  Sergeant  SUssmilch  and  the  two  overseers  was 
riveted  on  the  performance.  Suddenly  Cat-Kaspar's  strength 
seemed  to  fail  him  ;  he  looked  as  if  in  peril  every  instant  to 
be  crushed  between  the  stone  and  the  bank  of  earth. 

"  Help  me,  some  one  !"  he  cried. 

I  did  not  imagine  that  all  this  was  a  mere  stratagem  of 
the  cunning  rascal.  Snatching  a  second  crowbar,  and  with- 
out waiting  for  the  sergeant's  permission,  I  leapt  down, 
thrust  the  bar  under  the  stone,  clapped  my  shoulder  to  it  and 
heaved  with  all  my  strength,  and  the  stone  rolled  over. 

"  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  the  men.  I 

"  Slowl}',  comrade,"  said  Cat-Kaspar,  as  I  was  exerting 
myself  further  to  help  him  with  the  stone,  "  slowly,  or  we  will 
get  up  too  soon." 

He  had  no  need  to  yawn  now ;  the  excitement  of  both 
convicts  and  overseers  was  such  that  the  regulations  were 
for  the  time  forgotten  ;  and  then  we  were  at  least  fifteen  feet 
below  them,  and  only  our  backs  were  visible.  Cat-Kaspar 
took  advantage  of  his  opportunity.  .  While  we  were  heaving 
at  the  stone,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  he  kept  bandying  coarse 
jokes  with  those  above,  and  in  the  intervals  addressed  me  in 
rapid,  broken  sentences. 

"  Will  you  join  us  .'' — never  have  such  another  chance — two 
fellows  at  least,  such  as  you  and  I,  must  take  it  in  hand — 
there  are  ten  more  of  them — but  two  must  begin — no  one 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  233 

has  the  courage  but  myself — and  you  too,  I  hope — to-morrow 
is  the  last  day — through  the  gate  across  the  bridge  over  the 
rampart  to  the  outer  harbor  at  the  strand — only  follow  me — 
I'll  bring  you  through — if  any  one  offers  to  stop  us,  kill  him 
— the  scoundrel  SUssmilch  first  of  all.     If  you  betray  us " 

"  Work,  and  stop  gabbling  !  "  called  out  the  sergeant. 

"  I  can  do  no  more  !  "  said  Cat-Kaspar,  throwing  down  his 
crowbar. 

He  had  gained  his  object,  and  had  no  desire  to  expend  his 
strength  further,  at  no  advantage  to  himself. 

"  Come  out ! "  ordered  the  sergeant,  well  pleased  to  have 
been  right,  and  indeed  doubly  right,  since  the  two  strongest 
men  of  the  gang  had  not  been  able  to  accomplish  what  Cat- 
Kaspar  had  undertaken  to  do  single-handed. 

Order  was  restored,  and  the  work  proceeded  as  usual.  I 
did  the  work  of  two,  to  conceal  the  excitement  into  which 
the  assassin's  words  had  thrown  me.  His  plan  at  once 
seemed  tolerably  plain,  and  I  comprehended  it  thoroughly 
when  I  found  an  opportunity  to  take  a  look  around  from  the 
highest  point  of  the  site  from  which  one  could  see  over  the 
wall.  Immediately  adjoining  the  place  where  we  were  work- 
ing was  a  gate  in  the  wall,  which  during  the  progress  of  the 
work  was  frequently  used,  and  the  key  to  which  the  sergeant 
carried  in  his  pocket.  A  short  bridge,  which  had  in  the  cen- 
tre a  gateway  defended  by  chevaux-defrise,  led  from  the  gate 
over  a  wide  moat  which  in  former  times  had  been  the  town- 
fosse,  as  our  prison-wall  had  once  been  part  of  the  town-wall. 
Beyond  the  moat  was  a  high  bastion,  with  a  walk  shaded 
with  walnut-trees  at  its  foot,  and  on  it  stood  two  cannon,  but 
I  had  never  observed  any  sentry  near  them.  To  the  right 
of  the  bastion  was  a  much  lower  rampart,  over  which  from 
my  position  it  was  easy  to  see ;  and  beyond  this  I  caught 
sight  of  the  pennons  of  ships,  which  must  be  in  the  outer 
harbor  of  which  Cat-Kaspar  had  spoken.  Between  the  pen- 
nons glittered  a  bit  of  blue  sea  ;  indeed  I  could  catch  a  glance 
of  the  island  beyond,  whose  low  chalk-cliffs  shone  bright  in 
the  sunset. 

I  had  seen  enough,  and  hastened  to  descend  in  order  to 
awake  no  suspicion.  The  evening-bell  rang,  our  work  was 
over  for  the  day  ;  with  the  sergeant  at  my  side  I  retraced  the 
now  familiar  way  by  the  garden,  past  the  house  to  my  cell. 


234 


Hamtner  and  Anvil. 


This  night  no  sleep  visited  my  eyes.  All  night  long  I  re- 
volved in  my  mind  the  possibilities  of  flight.  That  Cat-Kas- 
par's  plan  was  feasible,  I  was  now  convinced ;  and  equally 
so  that  this  cunning,  bold  fellow  was  the  very  man  to  carry 
it  out.  The  place  could  not  have  been  better  chosen  ;  a 
high  bastion,  an  outer  harbor  with  ships  and  boats,  a  de- 
serted strand  beyond,  and  over  there  the  island,  which  I 
could  reach  in  any  event  by  swimming.  Once  there,  I  knew 
now  how  to  get  away,  and  how  easily  it  could  be  done.  My 
clothes  were  still  in  the  old  woman's  keeping,  and  there  also 
were  my  gun  and  my  game-bag.  Then  farewell  preliminary 
detention  and  imprisonment ;  farewell  judges  and  counsel, 
superintendents  and  turnkeys  !  I  should  be  a  free  man  and 
could  mock  you  all — and  you  too,  worthy  citizens  of  my 
native  town,  who  had  dealt  so  generously  with  me,  and  my 
father — well,  my  father  might  look  to  it  how  he  reconciled  to 
his  conscience  his  treatment  of  a  son  whom  his  severity  had 
driven  from  his  house,  whom  he  and  he  alone  had  made  a 
criminal. 

I  had  not  been  a  criminal  yet,  but  I  knew  that  I  should 
soon  be  one ;  indeed  I  felt  myself  one  already.  I  even  now 
felt  the  taint  of  my  associations  with  Cat-Kaspar.  It  was 
plain  enough  that  without  real  and  deep  crime — without 
murder — our  plan  could  not  be  executed.  The  sergeant 
kept  the  keys  of  the  gates  in  his  pocket,  and  he  was  not  a 
man  to  yield,  especially  in  such  a  case.  Then  the  other  two 
overseers  were  there,  who  were  clearly  no  chicken-hearts. 
The  three  would  resist  as  long  as  life  was  in  their  bodies. 
They  must  be  despatched  at  the  very  first  attack,  in  order 
that  terror  should  be  added  to  confusion,  if  our  flight  was  to 
succeed. 

I  sprang  up  from  my  bed  with  a  wildly-beating  heart. 
Cat-Kaspar  counted  on  my  assistance  first  of  all,  and  he  was 
right ;  unless  we  two  began  the  attack  simultaneously,  there 
was  no  chance  of  success  ;  one  man  alone  would  have  none 
to  second  him  ;  so  one  of  the  guards,  probably  the  sergeant, 
must  fall  by  my  hand. 

By  my  hand — how  easy  it  was  to  think  and  to  say  this  ; 
but  would  not  my  courage  fail  me  at  the  moment  ?  True,  I 
had  fired  at  the  officer  in  the  moor,  but  then  not  only  my 
own  liberty,  but  that  of  my  protector,  benefactor,  and  friend 


Hammer  and  AnvH.  235 

was  at  stake,  and  thankful  had  I  been  that  my  bullet  went 
astray.  Now  my  associate  was  not  the  man  I  so  loved  and 
admired,  but  Cat-Kaspar ;  the  thing  to  be  done  now  was  not 
to  fire  a  pistol  at  a  dark  figure  that  suddenly  springs  up 
threatening  in  the  way,  but  to  perpetrate  a  deliberate  mur- 
der ;  it  was  to  kill  a  comparatively  unarmed  man  with  a 
spade,  a  pick,  or  a  crowbar,  or  the  first  tool  that  came  to  the 
murderer's  hand.  And  .1  had  done  everything  in  my  power 
to  hate  the  man,  and  could  not  do  it.  Through  all  his 
roughness  there  shone  so  much  genuine  kindness,  that  it 
often  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  put  on  this  prickly  garb 
because  he  knew  how  soft  he  was  by  nature.  If  my  relations 
to  him  were  none  of  the  best,  whose  fault  was  it  but  mine 
who  had  so  rudely  repulsed  all  his  advances  ?  He  had  not 
retaliated  ;  he  had  never  wavered  in  his  rough  but  sincere 
good-will ;  if  I  overlooked  his  surly  fashion  of  speech,  he  had 
treated  me,  not  as  a  keeper  his  prisoner,  but  as  an  old  faith- 
ful servant,  who  can  take  many  liberties,  might  treat  a  young 
master  who  has  behaved  badly,  and  who  has. been  entrusted 
to  him  to  bring  back  to  reason.  Often  during  the  work  I 
found  his  clear  blue  eyes  looking  at  me  with  a  strange  ex- 
pression as  if  he  were  saying  constantly  to  himself :  "  Poor 
youth  !  poor  youth  !  "  and  as  if  he  would  like  to  throw  down 
his  measuring-rod,  seize  my  pick,  and  do  the  work  in  my 
place.  Once  or  twice  he  had  said,  as  we  were  returning 
from  work,  "  Well,  hasn't  one  had  enough  of  it  yet  ? "  and 
again,  "  One  shouldn't  be  too  obstinate  and  grieve  the 
captain  so."  (The  sergeant  never  called  his  former  officer 
the  "superintendent,"  except  where  it  was  absolutely  ne- 
cessary.) "  How  grieve  the  captain  t "  I  asked.  "  One  will 
not  understand  it,"  the  old  man  replied,  and  looked  quite 
sad  and  dejected. 

I  would  not  understand  it — he  was  right  in  that. 

But  does  any  one  understand  less  because  he  pretends  un- 
consciousness ?  Whatever  the  reason  might  be  that  drew 
the  superintendent's  sympathy  to  me  and  my  fate,  I  could 
not  close  my  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this  sympathy  existed,  and 
that  it  was  expressed  in  the  sincerest,  in  the  most  winning 
manner,  I  still  heard  his  words  and  the  tone  in  which  they 
were  spoken,  a  tone  which  so  vividly  brought  back  to  my 
memory  the  voice  of  the  man  who  had  been  and  still  was 


236  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

my  hero.  The  oftener  I  saw  the  superintendent — and  I  saw 
him  nearly  every  day — the  more  I  was  struck  by  his  resem- 
blance to  his  unfortunate  brother.  It  was  the  same  tall 
form,  but  toil  atid  sickness,  and  probably  grief  and  care,  had 
broken  down  the  proud  strength ;  it  was  the  same  noble  face, 
but  nobler  and  gentler ;  the  same  great  dark  eyes,  but  their 
looks  were  more  earnest  and  sad.  Even  when  his  lips  were 
silent,  these  eyes  greeted  me  with  kindness;  and  in  this 
frightful  night,  while  I  was  struggling  with  the  tempter,  I 
saw  them  still,  and  their  soft  sad  looks  seemed  to  ask : 
"  Have  you  a  heart  to  plan  such  a  deed  ? — a  hand  to  execute 
it  t " 

But  I  will,  I  must  be  free  !  my  spirit  cried  out.  What  care 
I  for  your  laws  ?  If  you  have  brought  me  to  despair,  you 
can  only  expect  from  me  the  actions  of  a  desperate  man. 
From  my  school  here — from  one  prison  to  another  !  I  shook 
off  one  tyranny  because  I  found  it  intolerable  ;  should  I  pa- 
tiently bear  this  which  oppresses  me  so  much  more  heavily  ? 
Shall  I  not  meet  force  with  force  ?  What  would  the  Wild 
Zehren  do  were  he  alive  and  knew  that  his  dearest  friend 
was  here  in  a  dungeon  ?  He  would  strive  to  set  me  free, 
though  he  had  to  burn  down  the  prison  or  even  the  town,  as 
those  faithful  fellows  did,  who  delivered  his  ancestor  !  What 
he  would  do  and  dare,  that  would  I.  At  the  worst  it  could 
but  cost  my  life  ;  and  that  life  should  be  thrown  away  when 
it  was  no  longer  worth  having — the  Wild  Zehren  had  taught 
me  that. 

Thoughts  like  these  agitated  me  as  if  a  hell  had  been  let 
loose  in  my  breast.  Even  now,  after  so  many  years,  now 
when  with  a  joyous  and  innocent  heart  I  feel  grateful  for 
every  sun  that  rises  bringing  me  another  day  of  earnest  work 
and  calm  happiness — even  now  my  heart  palpitates  and  my 
hand  trembles  as  I  write  these  lines,  which  bring  so  vividly  be- 
fore me  the  terrors  of  that  night,  and  of  the  time  when  I  sought 
for  any  means  of  escape  from  the  labyrinth  in  which  I  wan- 
dered in  despair. 

Let  no  one  cast  a  stone  at  me  that  I  strayed  so  far  from 
the  right  path.  Well  for  thee,  be  thou  who  thou  mayst, 
whose  brow  falls  into  severe  judicial  folds  upon  reading  this 
— well  for  thee  if  the  happy  temper  of  thy  blood  has  pre- 
served thee  from  the  blind  fury  of  raging  passions,  if  a 


t 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  237 

judicious  education  has  early  given  thee  a  clear  view  of  life,. 

and  kindly  smoothed  thy  path  before  thee.     Then  thank  thy 

beneficent  stars  that  have  granted  thee  all  this,  and  perhaps 

kept  thee  from  going  widely  astray.     For  when  is  this  not 

possible  ?     It  is  a  peril  to  which  all  are  exposed.     Then  de- 

;  voutly  pray  that  thou  mayst  not  be  led  into  temptation,  that 

I  no  such  night  may  come  to  thee  as  that  through  which  I 

I  suffered ;  a  night  in  which  it  is  not  only  dark  without,  but 

I  within  ;   a  night  which,  when  thirty  years  have  passed,  you 

I  will  still  shudder  to  think  of. 

When  the  dawning  light  entered  my  cell,  it  found  me  with 
burning  temples,  and  shivering  with  chill.  I  probably  looked 
pale  and  haggard,  for  the  sergeant's  first  word  when  he  saw 
me  was,  "Sick:  no  work  to-day." 

I  was  sick  ;  I  felt  it  but  too  plainly.  I  had  never  felt  thus 
in  my  life  before.  Was  this  the  hand  of  fate,  I  thought, 
which  forbade  our  designs  ?  If  I  did  not  go  to  work  to  day, 
the  attempt  would  not  be  made.  Cat-Kaspar  reckoned  on 
my  strength,  courage,  and  decision.  My  example — the  ex- 
ample of  one  who  was  to  a  certain  extent  a  volunteer,  and 
whom  they  all  felt  to  be  their  superior — must  exert  an  irre- 
sistible influence  upon  them.  Cat-Kaspar  fully  calculated 
upon  this,  and  he  neither  could  nor  would  venture  without  me. 

"  No  work  to-day,"  said  the  sergeant.  "  Look  as  misera- 
ble as  a  cat.  Overdid  it  yesterday.  Not  got  seven  senses 
like  a  bear." 

This  last  mysterious  phrase — a  favorite  one  with  the  ser- 
geant— was  beyond  my  comprehension ;  but  its  meaning  could 
only  be  a  friendly  one,  for  his  blue  eyes  rested  upon  me  as 
he  spoke  with  an  expression  of  sincere  solicitude. 

"  Not  at  all,"  I  said.  "  I  think  I  shall  feel  better  out  of 
doors  :  the  prison  air  does  not  suit  me." 

"  Doesn't  suit  anybody  that  I  know  of,"  growled  the  ser- 
geant. 

1    1  "  And  me  first  of  all,"  I  said  ;  "  so  badly  that  I  have  a 

strong  inclination  to  go  away  pretty  soon." 

I  looked  the  old  man  fixedly  in  the  eye.  I  wanted  him  to 
read  my  intention  in  my  looks.  But  he  only  smiled  and 
replied : 

"  Not  many  would  stay  if  all  went  that  wanted  to — ^Would 
go  away  myself." 


■21 8  Hammer  and  Anvtl. 

■\ 

"  Why  do  you  not  ?" 

"  Been  with  the  captain  now  five-and-twenty  years.  Stay 
with  him  till  I  die." 

*'  That  may  happen  any  day." 

Again  I  looked  at  him  steadily  in  the  face.  This  time  the 
expression  of  my  look  struck  him. 

"  Look  like  a  bear  with  seven  senses.  Got  a  robber- 
murderous-gallows  look,"*  said  he. 

"What  I  am  not,  I  may  be  yet,"  I  said ;  "what  if  I  were 
to  throttle  you  this  moment  ?     I  am  thrice  as  strong  as  you." 

"  No  stupid  jokes,"  said  the  sergeant.  ''  Not  a  bear  ;  and 
an  old  soldier  is  no  toothpick." 

In  this  way  the  worthy  Herr  Siissmilch  disposed  of  the 
matter.  As  I  would  neither  remain  in  my  cell  nor  see  the 
prison-doctor,  we  started  for  the  work-place. 

On  the  way  I  had  to  stop  more  than  once,  for  everything 
grew  dark  before  my  eyes,  and  I  thought  that  I  was  about 
to  die.  The  same  sensations  returned  several  times  during 
the  day,  which  was  unusually  hot.  A  fierce  fever  was 
raging  in  my  veins,  a  terrible  malady  was  swiftly  coming  on 
me,  or  indeed  had  already  come. 

"  Dr.  Snellius  said  to  me  afterwards,  and  indeed  repeated 
the  remark  to  me  but  a  few  days  ago,  over  our  wine  at 
table,  that  he  cannot  to  this  day  understand  how  a  man  in 
the  condition  in  which  I  must  have  been,  could  not  only 
remain  upon  his  feet  all  day  long,  but  do  hard  work.  He 
said  it  was  the  strongest  proof  he  had  ever  met,  of  how  far 
an  intense  will  could  prevail  contra  naturam,  against  the 
course  of  nature.  "  To  be  sure,"  he  added,  clapping  me  on 
the  shoulder,  "  only  blacksmiths  can  do  it ;  tailors  die  in  the 
attempt." 

How  dreadfully  I  suffered  !  When  the  dream-god  has  a 
mind  to  play  me  a  malicious  trick,  he  places  me  in  a  deep 
excavation  into  which  pour  the  rays  of  a  pitiless  sun  ;  he 
claps  a  pick  into  my  hand,  with  which  I  smite  furious  blows 
upon  a  soil'  hard  as  rock,  but  the  soil  is  my  own  head,  and 
every  blow  pierces  to  my  brain  ;  and  then  he  fills  the  exca- 
vation with  fiends  in  the  shape  of  men,  who  are  all  working 
like  myself  with  picks  or  with  spades,  shovels  and  barrows, 

* '' RaubmSrdergalgenmassig."  ~-      i 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


239 


and  these  fiends  have  all  flat,  brutal  faces  and  evil  eyes  that 
they  keep  fixed  upon  me,  giving  me  signs  of  intelligence  and 
readiness  for  the  devilish  work  I  am  to  do.  And  among 
them  rises  from  time  to  time  a  head  that  has  eyes  more  evil 
than  all  the  rest,  and  the  head  opens  its  horrible  mouth  to 
yawn,  and  from  the  distended  jaws  come  the  words  :  "  Sun- 
set soon — ready,  comrade — I  take  Rollmann,  you  sergeant 
— smash  skulls  !  " 

But  the  most  dreadful  part  is  to  come. 

It  is  half  an  hour  before  sunset.  In  half  an  hour  the  bell 
will  ring  to  stop  work.  This  is  the  last  day ;  the  excava- 
tion is  done  and  the  foundation-stones  are  brought.  To- 
morrow regular  masons  will  take  the  work  in  hand.  Some 
of  the  convicts  will  help  them,  but  others  will  be  employed 
elsewhere  ;  it  is  the  last  evening  on  which  the  eleven  of 
whom  I  am  to  be  the  twelfth  will  be  together.  Now  or 
never  is  to  be  the  time,  and  the  signal  has  been  already 
given. 

Cat-Kaspar  commences  a  dispute  with  his  neighbor,  in 
which  the  others  join,  one  by  one.  The  quarrel  gets  hot ; 
the  men  appear  to  grow  furious  ;  while  the  overseers,  with 
the  sergeant  at  their  head,  endeavor  to  separate  them,  and 
threaten  them  with  solitary  confinement  on  bread  and  water 
for  such  unheard-of  insubordination.  The  rioters  pay  no 
attention  ;  from  words  they  come  to  blows,  and  pushing  and 
striking,  they  get  into  a  confused  melee,  into  which  they  en- 
deavor to  involve  the  overseers. 

This  prelude  has  lasted  but  a  few  moments,  and  it  can 
be  continued  no  longer,  lest  the  unusual  noise  should  bring 
other  officers  upon  the  spot,  and  so  the  whole  plan  be  de- 
feated. 

Whether  I  was  drawn  into  the  melee,  or  whether  I  sprang 
into  it  voluntarily,  I  cannot  say — I  find  myself  in  the  midst. 
I  do  not  know  if  I  am  helping  the  overseers  to  drag  the 
men  apart,  or  if  I  am  trying  to  increase  the  confusion  ;  but 
I  shout,  I  rave,  I  seize  two  by  their  necks  and  hurl  them  to 
the  ground  as  if  they  were  puppets  ;  I  behave  like  a  mad- 
man— I  am  really  mad,  though  neither  I  nor  the  rest  know 
it ;  even  Cat-Kaspar  does  not  perceive  it,  but  rushes  up  to 
my  side  and  shouts :  "  Now,  comrade  !  " 

At  this  instant  I  see  a  man  of  tall  stature  emerge  from  the 


240  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

garden-gate  and  hasten  towards  us.  It  is  the  superintendent. 
A  maiden  of  about  fifteen,  of  whose  slender  figure  I  have 
more  than  once  caught  a  glimpse  through  the  garden-gate, 
holds  him  by  the  hand,  and  seems  to  endeavor  to  detain  him, 
or  else  to  share  the  danger.  Two  boys  appear  at  the  gate, 
and  hurrah  loudly  ;  they  have  no  idea  of  the  terrible  serious- 
ness of  the  affair. 

The  tall  superintendent  confronts  us.  He  draws  his  left 
hand  gently  from  the  hand  of  the  maiden  and  presses  it  upon 
his  weak  chest,  which  is  laboring  with  the  exertion  of  his 
rapid  walk.  The  other  hand  he  has  raised  to  command  si- 
lence, as  he  is  not  yet  able  to  speak.  His  usually  pale 
cheeks  are  suffused  with  a  feverish  glow ;  his  large  eyes  flash, 
as  if  they  must  speak,  since  his  lips  cannot. 

And  the  raging,  furious  crew  understand  their  language. 
They  have  all  learned  to  look  up  in  reverence  to  the  pale 
man  who  is  always  grave  and  always  kind,  even  when  he 
must  punish,  and  whom  no  one  has  yet  known  to  punish  un- 
justly. They  are  prepared  for  everything  except  this,  that  at 
the  last  moment  this  man  should  confront  them.  They  feel 
that  their  plan  has  failed  :  indeed  they  abandon  it. 

One  does  not.  One  is  resolved  to  win  the  game  or  lose 
all.  In  truth,  is  not  the  chance  now  better  than  ever .''  Let 
yonder  man  once  lie  prostrate,  who  or  what  could  restrain 
him  and  the  rest? 

Giving  a  yell  more  horrible  than  ever  issued  from  the 
throat  of  the  fiercest  beast  of  prey,  he  swings  high  his  pick 
and  rushes  upon  the  superintendent.  The  maiden  throws 
herself  before  her  father.  But  a  better  defender  is  still 
swifter  than  she.  With  one  bound  he  springs  between  them 
and  seizes  the  miscreant's  arm.  The  pick,  in  descending, 
grazes  his  head,  but  what  is  that  to  the  torments  that  have 
been  raging  in  it  for  hours  ? 

"  Cursed  hound  !  "  roars  Cat-Kaspar,  "  have  you  betrayed 
us.^"  and  swings  his  pick  again,  but  has  hardly  raised  it 
when  he  is  lying  upon  the  ground,  and  on  his  breast  is  kneel- 
ing one  to  whom  the  delirium  of  fever  has  now  given  the 
strength  of  a  giant,  and  whom  in  this  moment  no  living  man 
could  resist.. 

In  a  moment  it  is  all  over.  For  an  instant  he  sees  the 
horribly  distorted  face  of  Cat-Kaspar — he  feels  hands  striv- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


241 


ing  to  wrench  his  hands  from  the  man's  throat,  and  then  a 
black  night  swallows  up  all. 


-o- 


CHAPTER     IV. 

A  BLACK  night  which  is  but  a  long,  long  continuation 
of  the  dreadful  dream,  until  at  last  it  is  broken  by 
rare  gleams  of  soft,  dim  light,  at  which  the  forms  of 
fear  grow  faint  and  give  way  to  more  friendly  shapes.  These 
also  melt  into  deep  night,  but  it  is  not  the  old  terrible 
gloom,  but  rather  a  blissful  sinking  into  happy  annihilation  ; 
and  whenever  I  emerge  from  it  the  figures  are  clearer,  so 
that  I  sometimes  now  succeed  in  distinguishing  them 
from  each  other,  whereas  at  first  they  melted  indistinguish- 
ably  into  one  another.  Now  I  know  that  when  the  long 
gray  moustache  nods  up  and  down  before  my  face,  there  is 
always  an  honest,  good-natured  old  mastiff  there,  who 
growls  out  of  his  deep  chest ;  only  I  never  get  sight  of  the 
mastiff,  and  sometimes  think  that  it  is  the  long  gray  mous- 
tache itself  that  growls  so.  When  the  moustache  is  dark,  I 
hear  a  soft  voice,  the  sound  of  which  is  inexpressibly  sooth- 
ing to  me,  so  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  happy  smiles,  while 
when  I  hear  the  mastiff  I  would  laugh  aloud,  only  I  have  no 
body,  but  am  a  soap-bubble  which  floats  out  of  the  garret- 
window  in  my  father's  house,  into  the  sunny  air,  until  two 
spectacle-glasses  which  have  no  moustache,  are  reflected  in 
it.  These  spectacle-glasses  perplex  me ;  for  although  they 
never  have  a  moustache,  they  are  sometimes  blue,  and  then 
they  are  a  woman  ;  but  when  they  are  white  they  are  a  man 
and  have  a  creaking  voice,  while  the  blue  glasses  have  the 
softest  voice — softer  even  than  that  of  the  dark  moustache. 

I  cannot  make  out  how  all  this  is,  and  puzzle  myself  over 
it  until  I  fall  asleep,  and  when  I  awake  some  one  is  leaning 
over  me  who  has  a  dark  moustache  and  brown  eyes,  and 
exactly  resembles  some  one  that  I  know,  although  I  cannot 
recall  where  and  when  I  have  seen  him.  But  I  feel  both  glad 
and  sad  at  the  sight  of  this  unknown  acquaintance,  for  it  seems 
II 


242  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

to  me  that  I  owe  him  boundless  gratitude  for  something — I 
know  not  what.  And  this  feeling  of  gratitude  is  so  strong 
that  I  draw  his  hand,  which  he  has  laid  upon  mine,  very 
slowly  and  softly,  for  I  have  little  or  no  strength,  to  my  lips, 
and  close  my  eyes,  from  which  happy  tears  are  streaming.  I 
have  something  to  say,  but  cannot  recall  it,  and  fall  to  think- 
ing it  over,  and  when  I  again  open  my  eyes  the  form  is  gone, 
and  the  room  vacant  and  filled  with  a  dim  light,  and  I  look 
around  in  surprise. 

It  is  a  moderately-large,  two-windowed  room ;  the  white 
window-curtains  are  pulled  down,  and  on  them  I  can  see  the 
shadows  of  vine-branches  waving  to  and  fro.  I  watch  the 
motion  with  delight ;  it  is  an  image  of  my  thoughts  that  float 
and  waver  thus  without  being  able  to  fix  themselves  on  any 
point.  I  look  again  into  the  room,  and  my  eyes  find  an  ob- 
ject on  which  they  rest.  It  is  a  picture  which  hangs  directly 
opposite  to  me  on  a  plain  light-gray  wall ;  it  represents  a 
young  and  beautiful  woman  with  a  child  in  her  arms.  The 
eyes  of  the  young  mother,  who  is  calm  and  almost  sad,  as 
though  she  were  pondering  over  some  wondrous  mystery,  are 
mild  and  gentle ;  while  those  of  the  boy,  under  his  full  brow, 
have  a  dignity  beyond  his  years,  and  look  out  into  the  far 
distance  with  an  air  of  majesty  as  if  their  glances  compre- 
hended the  world. 

I  can  scarcely  turn  my  eyes  from  the  picture.  My  admira- 
tion is  pure  and  artless  ;  I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  original ; 
I  do  not  know  that  it  is  an  exquisite  copy  in  crayons  of  the 
most  celebrated  painting  of  the  Master  of  masters  ;  I  only 
know  that  never  in  my  life  have  I  seen  anything  so  beautiful. 

Under  this  picture  hangs  a  little  etagere  with  two  rows  of 
neatly-bound  books.  Under  the  etaghre  stands  a  bureau  of 
antique  form  with  brass  handles,  and  on  it  lie  drawing-mate- 
rials, and,  between  two  terra-cotta  vases,  a  little  work-basket 
with  ends  of  red  worsted  hanging  over  its  edge. 

Between  the  windows  and  the  bureau,  evidently  set  on  one 
side,  is  an  easel,  upon  which  is  a  drawing-board  with  the  face 
inwards ;  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  door  a  cottage  piano, 
the  upper  part  of  which  has  a  peculiar,  lyre-shaped  figure. 

I  do  not  know  what  it  is  that  suddenly  brings  to  my  mind 
Constance  von  Zehren.  Perhaps  it  is  that  the  lyre-shaped 
instrument  reminds  me  of  a  guitar ;  and  indeed  this  must  be 


-^ 


V 


i 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  243 

the  reason,  for  in  nothing  else  does  the  room  bear  any  re- 
semblance to  Constance's.  As  there  all  was  neglect  and 
confusion,  here  all  is  orderly  and  cheerful ;  no  torn  thread- 
bare carpet  covers  the  white  floor  upon  which  the  windows 
throw  squares  of  sunlight,  and  the  shadows  of  the  vine- 
branches  play,  but  fainter  than  upon  the  curtains.  No,  I  am 
not  at  Castle  Zehren.  In  all  that  castle  there  was  no  apart- 
ment like  this,  so  bright,  so  cheerful,  so  clean  ;  and  now  I 
remember  Castle  Zehren  is  burnt  down — to  the  very  ground, 
some  one  told  me — so  I  cannot  be  at  Castle  Zehren ;  but 
where  am  I,  then  ? 

I  turn  my  eyes  to  the  beautiful  young  mother  of  the  pic- 
ture, as  if  she  could  answer  me  ;  but  looking  at  her,  I  forget 
what  it  was  that  I  had  intended  to  ask.  I  have  only  the 
feeling  that  one  can  sleep  peacefully  when  such  eyes  are 
watching  him  ;  and  I  wonder  that  the  fair  boy  does  not  rest 
his  head  upon  the  shoulder  or  the  bosom  of  his  mother, 
close  his  great  thoughtful  eyes,  and  sleep  sweetly — oh  !  so 
sweetly  ! 

The  long  sweet  sleep  wonderfully  strengthens  me.  When 
I  awake,  I  at  once  raise  my  head,  rest  myself  upon  my  elbow, 
and  stare  with  surprise  at  the  brown  furrowed  face,  the  blue 
eyes,  the  great  hooked  nose,  and  the  long  gray  moustache  of 
Sergeant  Stissmilch,  who  sits  at  my  bed-side. 

The  old  man,  on  his  part,  looks  at  me  with  no  less  surprise. 
Then  a  pleasant  smile  shoots  from  the  moustache  through  a 
pair  of  the  deepest  furrows  up  to  the  blue  eyes,  where  it  stays 
and  blinks  and  twinkles  joyously.  He  brings  three  fingers 
of  his  right  hand  to  his  forehead,  and  says,  "  Serviteur  !  " 

This  comes  so  droUy  from  him  that  I  have  to  laugh,  for  I 
can  laugh  now,  and  the  old  feltow  laughs  too,  and  says, 
"  Had  a  good  nap  ? " 

"  Splendid,"  I  answer.     "  Have  I  been  sleeping  long  ?  " 

"  Pretty  well.  To-morrow  it  will  be  eight  weeks,"  he  re- 
plies cheerily. 

"  Eight  weeks,"  I  repeated,  mechanically  ;  "  that  is  a  long 
time  ;  "  and  thinking  of  this,  I  pass  my  hand  over  my  head. 
My  head  was  naturally  covered  with  very  thick,  curly,  soft 
auburn  hair,  inclining  to  red ;  but  I  now  feel  nothing  but 
short  bristles,  as  of  a  brush,  a  brush  too  in  which  time  has 
made  considerable  ravages. 


244  Hammer  and  Anvil.  . , 

"  This  is  very  strange,"  I  said. 

"  Soon  grow,"  said  the  sergeant,  encouragingly.  "  Shaved 
me  bald  as  a  turnip  after  this  " — he  pointed  to  a  deep  scar 
on  his  right  temple,  running  up  into  his  thick  gray  hair,  atid 
which  I  now  noticed  for  the  first  time — "  and  yet  I  had  a 
crop  afterwards  like  a  bear " 

"  With  seven  senses,"  I  added,  and  had  to  laugh  at  my  own 
wit.  It  seems  that  I  have  a  child's  head  on  my  broad  shoul- 
ders. 

The  old  man  laughed  heartily,  then  suddenly  grew  serious 
and  said  :  1 . 

"  Now  keep  still,  and  go  to  sleep  again  like  a " 

He  did  not  finish  his  favorite  simile,  apparently  in  fear 
lest  he  should  set  me  to  laughing  again ;  but  I  laughed  in 
spite  of  his  precautions,  and  while  doing  so  pulled  up  the 
sleeve  of  my  shirt,  which  struck  me  as  singularly  loose.  But 
it  was  not  that  the  sleeve  was  wider,  but  my  arm  thinner ;  so 
thin  that  I  could  scarcely  believe  it  to  be  mine. 

"  Soon  get  strong  again,"  said  the  sergeant. 

"  I  have  been  very  sick,  then  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  it  was  very  near  tattoo  ;  but  I  always 
said  :  weeds  won't  die/'  and  he  rubbed  his  hands  with  sat- 
isfaction. "  Talk  enough  now,"  he  added,  in  a  tone  of  au- 
thority. "  Strict  orders,  when  awake,  to  allow  no  discussion, 
and  report  fact ;  which  shall  be  done  forthwith." 

The  sergeant  is  about  rising,  but  I  take  one  of  his  brown 
hands  and  beg  him  to  stay.  I  feel  myself  quite  strong,  I 
say ;  speaking  does  not  fatigue  me  at  all,  and  of  course 
hearing  does  not ;  and  I  should  like  to  hear  how  I  came  into 
this  condition,  who  the  persons  are  that  have  been  about 
me,  and  whose  faces  I  have  seen  floating  through  the  mist 
of  my  dreams ;  and  if  there  has  not  been  a  great  good-na- 
tured mastiff"  that  guarded  me,  and  had  a  way  of  growling 
deeply. 

The  old  man  looks  at  me  attentively,  as  if  he  thought  all 
was  not  yet  quite  right  under  myl^ristly,  half-bald  skull,  and 
that  it  was  high  time  he  made  his  report.  He  placed  my 
hand  upon  the  coverlid,  and  said,  "  So  !  so  !  "  smoothes  the 
pillow,  and  again  says,  "  So  !  so  !  "  so  to  please  him  I  shut 
my  eyes  and  hear  how  he  rises  softly  and  goes  away  on  tip- 
toe \  but  the  door  has  hardly  closed  behind  him  when  I  open 


Hammer  and  Arwil.  245 

my  eyes  again,  and  apply  myself  resolutely  to  the  task  of 

solving  the  questions  which  I  had  addressed  to  the  old  man. 

As  when  we  look  down  from  a  high  mountain  upon  a  sea 

Uof  mist,  we  note  bright  points  emerging,  one  by  one — a  sun- 
lit corn-field,  a  cottage,  a  bit  of  road,  a  little  lake  with  grassy 
shores,  until  at  last  the  whole  landscape  lies  plain  before  us, 
except  a  few  spots  over  which  gray  wreaths  of  vapor  still 
float,  which  more  slowly  than  the  rest  roll  up  the  ravines — 
just  so  before  my  mental  vision  dissolved  the  night  of  obliv- 
ion which  during  my  illness  had  covered  the  recent  events 
of  my  life.  Now  I  again  remembered  that  I  was  in  prison 
and  how  I  came  there ;  that  the  old  man  with  the  gray 
i  moustache  was  not  my  friend  and  nurse,  but  my  keeper ; 

*  that  I  had  had  thoughts  of  killing  him,  if  necessary,  to  gain 

my  liberty ;  and  so  everything  that  had  happened,  up  to  that 
last  frightful  day  ;  but  that-  was  confused  and  obscure — as 
confused  and  obscure  as  it  has  ever  since  remained  in  my 
memory  to  this  hour.  Dark  and  painful ;  but  strange  to  say, 
this  painful  feeling  was  turned  exclusively  against  myself. 
The  Ijiate,  the  bitterness,  the  rancor,  the  desperation,  the 
frenzy — all  the  demons  which  had  dwelt  in  my  soul,  were 
at  gone,  as  though  an  angel  with  flaming  sword — ^perhaps  the 

-  Angel  of  Death,  who   had  hovered  over   me — had  driven 

them  away.  Even  the  remains  of  pain  melted  away  in  thank- 
fulness that  the  most  fearful  of  all  had  been  spared  me — 
that  I  could  look  upon  my  white,  wasted  hands  without  a 
shudder. 

As  I  lay  here,  pondering  these  things,  and  my  eyes  rested 
>  upon  that  fair  young  mother,  who  bore  her  boy  so  securely 

%  ypon  her  strong,  faithful  arm,  my  hands  involuntarily  folded, 

I  and  I  thought  of  my  own  mother  so  early  lost — far  too  early 

I  for  me — and  how  all  would  have  happened  differently  if  she 

I  had  ever  encircled  me  with  her  protecting  arms ;  if  in  my 

I  young  sorrows  and  doubts  I  could  have  sought  refuge,  coun- 

sel, and  consolation  upon  her  faithful  breast  And  I  thought 
too  of  my  father,  who  was  so  lonely  now,  whose  hopes  I  had 
so  cruelly  blighted,  whose  pride  I  had  so  deeply  wounded  ; 
and  I  thought  of  him  for  the  first  time  without  animosity, 
with  only  a  feeling  of  deepest  pity  for  the  poor  old  forsaken 
man. 

"  But  he  will  live,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  and  I  am  not  dead ; 


246  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

and  all  shall  be  well  again.  No,  not  all.  The  lost  past  can- 
not be  recalled ;  but  the  future  still  is  mine,  even  in  a 
prison." 

In  a  prison.  But  was  this  a  prison  in  which  I  was  ? — this 
pleasant  room  with  windows  barred  only  by  nodding  vine- 
branches  ;  a  room  in  which  everything  spoke  of  the  peace- 
fully cheerful  life  of  its  fair  inhabitant. 

How  I  came  to  this  idea  I  do  not  know,  but  I  could  not 
rid  myself  of  it ;  and  there  were  the  ends  of  red  worsted 
hanging  from  the  little  work-basket.  What  had  a  work- 
basket  to  do  in  the  room  of  a  man  ? 

I  thought  and  thought,  but  could  arrive  at  no  conclusion  ; 
the  streak  of  mist  would  not  move.  Indeed  it  rather  widen- 
ed and  spread  to  a  thin  veil,  which  threatened  gradually  to 
envelope  the  whole  prospect.  I  did  not  care ;  I  had  seen 
it  once  and  knew  that  I  should  see  it  again  ;  knew  that  I 
should  hear  the  voices  again  which  now  fell  faintly  on  my 
ear  as  if  from  a  vast  distance,  among  which  I  could  distin- 
guish the  muttered  growl  of  my  faithful  mastiff,  and  the  soft 
voice  that  accompanied  the  eyes  whose  gentle  light  had 
shone  through  my  darkness. 

When  I  again  awaked,  it  was  really  night,  or  at  least  so 
late  that  the  little  astral  lamp  by  my  bedside  was  already 
lighted,  and  by  its  feeble  glimmer  I  saw  some  one  sitting  by 
my  bed  whom  I  did  not  recognize,  as  his  head  was  hidden  in 
his  hand.  But  when  I  moved,  and  he  raised  his  head  and 
asked,  "  How  are  you  now  ?  "  I  knew  him  at  once.  The  low 
gentle  voice  I  would  have  recognized  among  a  thousand. 
And  now,  strangely  enough,  without  having  to  give  a  mo- 
ment's thought  to  the  matter,  but  just  as  if  sonie  one  had  told 
me  everything  in  my  sleep,  I  knew  that  the  house  in  which  I 
had  been  for  the  last  eight  weeks,  and  in  which  I  had  all 
this  time  been  tended  as  carefully  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  the 
family,  was  the  house  of  the  superintendent,  of  the  man  who 
certainly  not  to-day  for  the  first  time  was  watching  by  my 
bed,  and  who  spoke  to  me  in  a  tone  of  affection,  as  might  a 
kind  father  to  his  son. 

Leaning  over  me,  he  had  taken  my  hand  while  he  went 
on  speaking  ;  but  I  could  only  half  hear  his  words  for  an- 
other voice  that  cried  out  within  me,  loud  and  ever  louder, 
in  the  words  of  Scripture  :  "  I  am  not  worthy ! 


» 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  247 

I  could  not  silence  this  voice.  "  I  am  not  worthy !  "  it 
continually  cried,  until  at  last  I  exclaimed  aloud  :  "  I  am  not 
worthy  !  " 

"  You  are,  my  friend,"  said  the  soft  voice  ;  "  I  know  that 
you  are,  even  though  you  know  it  not  yourself." 

"  No,  no,  I  am  not,"  I  said,  in  great  agitation.  "  You  do 
not  know  whom  you  are  caring  for ;  you  do  not  know  whose 
hand  you  are  holding  in  yours." 

And  now,  following  that  irresistible  impulse  which  urges 
every  nature  that  is  upright  at  heart  to  refuse  at  all  hazards 
gratitude  which  it  is  conscious  of  not  deserving,  I  confessed 
my  grievous  fault ;  how  I  had  been  resolved  to  run  every  risk  to 
gain  my  liberty ;  that  I  had  not,  it  is  true,  invited  the  overtures 
of  the  ruffian,  but  nevertheless  had  permitted  them  ;  how  I 
had  known  of  the  plot  and  of  the  hour  when  it  was  to  be 
carried  out,  and  that  I  did  not  know  why  in  the  last  moment 
the  courage  to  do  my  part  in  it  had  failed  me  so  that  I  turned 
my  hand  against  the  man  whom  I  had  voluntarily  admitted 
as  my  comrade,  and  whose  accomplice  I  must  necessarily 
consider  myself 

The  superintendent  allowed  me  to  speak  to  an  end,  only 
retaining  with  a  gentle  pressure  my  hand,  whenever  I  at- 
tempted to  withdraw  it.  When  I  ceased  speaking,  he  said 
— and  even  now,  after  so  many  years,  on  awaking  in  the  night, 
I  fancy  I  hear  his  voice : 

"  My  dear  young  friend,  it  is  not  what  our  fancies,  inten- 
tions, desires,  represent  to  us  as  possible  or  even  necessary, 
not  what  we  believe  we  can  do  or  ought  to  do,  not  what  we 
have  resolved  to  do,  but  it  is  what  at  any  given  moment  we 
really  do,  that  makes  us  what  we  are.  The  coward  believes 
himself  a  hero  until  the  moment  of  trial  convicts  him  of 
cowardice ;  the  brave  man  fancies  that  he  will  prudently 
avoid  all  perils,  and  plunges  headlong  into  danger  as  soon 
as  a  cry  for  help  reaches  his  ear.  You  believed  yourself 
capable  of  lifting  your  hand  against  a  defenceless  man,  and 
when  you  saw  him  attacked  by  a  murderer,  you  sprang  to  his 
assistance.  And  do  not  say  that  you  did  not  know  what  you 
were  doing  ;  or  if  you  really  did  not  know,  you  were  following 
the  irresistible  promptings  of  your  nature,  and  were  just  at 
that  moment  your  real  self  I  and  mine  will  evermore  see 
in  you  the  man  who  saved  my  life  at  the  peril  of  his  own." 


248  Hammer  and  Anvil.  \ 

"  You  would  make  me  out  better  than  I  really  am,"  I  mur- 
mured. 

"  Even  were  that  so,"  he  answered,  "  few  have  my  oppor- 
tunity for  knowing  that  the  surest,  often  the  only  way  to  make 
a  man  better,  is  to  take  him  for  better  than  he  is.  Would  to 
heaven  that  this  secret  of  my  craft  were  always  as  easy  of 
employment  as  with  you.  And  if  I  can  help,  as  I  joyfully 
trust  I  can,  in  refining  the  noble  metal  of  your  nature  from 
the  dross  with  which  it  may  yet  be  mingled  ;  if  I  can  help  to 
enlighten  you  in  regard  to  yourself,  to  light  up  the  path  of 
your  life  which  lies  but  dark  before  you,  and  from  which  you 
believe  you  have — and  perhaps  really  have — ^wandered ;  in  a 
word,  to  make  you  what  you  can  be,  and  therefore  ought  to 
be — that  would  be  but  dealing  you  out  justice  in  return  for 
the  sharp  injustice  which  has  brought  you  here  ;  and  I  might 
thus  repay  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owed  you  before 
you  set  foot  in  this  house,  let  alone  before  you  preserved  for 
my  children  their  father's  life." 

The  soft  light  of  the  lamp  fell  upon  his  beautiful  pale  face, 
which  seemed  to  beam  upon  me  with  mild  radiance  like  a 
star  out  of  the  surrounding  gloom ;  and  his  gentle  voice 
came  to  my  ear  like  the  voice  of  some  good  spirit  that  in  the 
stillness  of  the  night  speaks  to  some  needy  and  stricken 
soul.  I  lay  there  without  moving,  without  turning  my  eyes 
from  him,  and  softly  begged  him  to  speak  on. 

"  It  is  perhaps  selfish  in  me  to  do  so,"  he  said,  "  if  I  now 
seize  the  moment  when  your  soul  awakes  to  fresh  life,  and  is 
disposed  to  look  with  trusting  child-like  eyes  upon  the  world 
it  has  regained,  to  teach  you  to  know  me,  and,  if  possible,  to 
love  me,  as  I  know  and  love  you — I  repeat  it,  not  now  for 
the  first  time.  I  knew  you  before  you  came  here.  You  look 
at  me  with  surprise,  and  yet  nothing  could  be  more  simple. 
I  always  deeply  loved  my  eldest  brother,  although  in  reality 
we  only  passed  our  childhood  and  boyhood  together,  and 
were  then  separated,  never  again  to  associate,  nor  indeed 
even  to  see  each  other,  for  the  last  fourteen  years.  For, 
whatever  the  world  and  his  passions  may  have  made  of  him, 
his  was  originally  the  fairest,  noblest,  bravest  soul  that  ever 
was  bestowed  upon  man.  You  can  imagine  what  a  blow  to 
me  was  the  news  of  his  death ;  with  what  painful  care  I 
strove  to  learn  everything  connected  with  his  death  and  its 


Hamjner  and  Anvil.  249 

cause  j  how  eagerly  I  seized  an  opportunity  that  oflFered  to 
read  the  reports  of  the  trial  in  which  the  name  and  actions 
of  my  unfortunate  brother  figured  so  conspicuously,  and  in 
which  you  were  yourself  so  unhappily  involved.  From  these 
reports  I  first  learned  to  know  you,  I  have  long  been  ac- 
customed to  inspect  reports  of  this  kind,  and  know  how  to 
read  between  the  lines  of  the  text.  Never  was  this  skill 
more  necessary  to  me  than  in  this  case ;  for  never  has  the 
juristic  understanding — or  rather  imbecility— divested  of  all 
psychological  insight,  committed  grosser  wrong  than  in  your 
case ;  never  did  the  hand  of  a  dauber  produce  from  an  easily- 
outlined,  sun-clear,  youthful  face,  a  more  hideous  caricature 
in  black  upon  black.  In  almost  every  feature  with  which 
the  accusation  furnished  it,  I  thought  I  could  perceive  and 
prove  exactly  the  contrary.  And  had  it  not  been  my  dearly- 
loved  brother  whose  fault  you  were  to  expiate — if  the  whole 
trial  had  been  foreign  to  me,  instead  of  touching  me  nearly, 
and  in  a  thousand  painful  ways,  I  would  have  made  your 
cause  my  own,  and  tried  to  save  you,  if  in  my  power.  But 
I  could  do  nothing  for  you ;  I  could  only  exert  all  my  influ- 
ence to  have  you  brought  here  instead  of  to  N.,  where  it  was 
originally  intended  to  send  you. 

"You  came,  I  saw  you  as  I  had  pictured  you  to  myself; 
I  found  you  just  as  I  had  thought.  There  may  have  been 
some  apparent  difference,  but  that  was  not  the  youth  who, 
to  rescue  my  brother,  had  rushed  upon  ruin  ;  who  had 
given  himself  up  to  justice  that  men  might  not  say  his  father 
was  his  accomplice  ;  who  during  the  trial  had  knowingly 
damaged  his  own  cause  by  obstinately  refusing  all  informa- 
tion implicating  others  ;  whose  manly  candor  in  all  other 
points  would  have  touched  any  heart  but  the  shriveled  heart 
of  a  man  of  acts  and  processes.  This  was  a  man  who  had 
been  wronged  under  the  forms  of  law,  whose  clear  soul  had 
been  darkened  by  the  gloom  of  a  dungeon. 

"  It  was  worthy  of  you  that  you  attempted  no  concealment 
of  your  feeling  of  hatred,  that  you  proudly  rejected  what  was 
offered  you  here,  which  others  would  have  greedily  seized. 
Let  me  be  brief  The  malady  that  had  been  so  long  incu- 
bating, which  nothing  but  your  unusually  strong  constitution 
was  able  to  withstand  so  long,  at  last  declared  itself  In 
the  frenzy  of  your  disturbed  mind  you  wished  to  show  : 
11* 


250  Haimner  and  Anvil. 

*  This  is  what  you  have  made  out  of  me ! '  and  the  result 
showed  that  you  had  remained  what  you  always  were.  You 
were  carried  away  for  dead  from  the  place  ;  a  physician 
hastily  called  in  gave  some  hope,  but  said  that  only  the  most 
unremitting  care  could  save  you.  Where  could  you  receive 
that  care  but  here  ?  Who  could  more  faithfully  watch  over 
your  life  than  he  who  owed  you  his  own  ?  What,  in  such  a 
case,  were  to  me  the  rules  of  the  house,  or  the  talk  of 
men  ?  We  carried  you  into  the  first  room,  which  happened 
to  be  the  best  for  our  purpose.  We — that  is,  my  wife,  my 
daughter,  who  is  older  than  her  years,  the  faithful  old  Sils.s- 
milch,  the  physician,  whom  you  will  learn  to  love  as  he 
deserves,  and  myself — we  have  fought  faithfully  and  bravely 
with  the  death  that  threatened  you ;  and  the  women  wept, 
and  the  men  shook  each  other  by  the  hand  when  your 
strong  nature  triumphed  over  its  enemy,  and  the  physician 
said  to  us — a  week  ago — '  He  is  saved.'  And  now  enough; 
perhaps  too  much  for  to-day.  If  from  our  conversation  you 
have  received  the  impression,  and  will  bear  it  with  you  into 
your  sleep,  that  you  are  among  friends  that  love  you,  that  is 
all  I  wish.  I  hear  S  iissmilch  coming  ;  I  wanted  to  relieve 
him  to-night,  but  he  says  he  cannot  leave  his  prisoner.  And 
now  good  night  and  good  rest." 

He  passed  his  hand  softly  over  my  brow  and  eyes,  and  left 
the  room.  My  soul  was  filled  with  his  words.  No  man  had 
ever  spoken  to  me  like  this.  Was  it  really  myself?  Had 
my  gloomy  soul  departed  during  my  long  sickness,  and  given 
place  to  a  purer,  brighter  spirit  ?  Be  it  as  it  might,  it  was 
sweet — ^almost  too  sweet  to  last.  But  I  would  keep  it  as 
long  as  I  could,  as  one  holds  fast  the  refrain  of  some  lovely 
melody.  I  did  not  move,  I  did  not  open  my  eyes,  when  I 
heard  by  a  slight  rustling  in  the  room  that  my  faithful  guar- 
dian was  making  his  preparations  for  the  night. 

How  could  I  do  otherwise  than  rest  sweetly,  so  richly 
blessed ;  than  rest  calmly,  so  faithfully  guarded  ? 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  251 


CHAPTER  V. 

IN  the  shady  garden,  especially  reserved  for  the  use  of  the 
superintendent  and  his  family,  there  was  at  the  farthest 
corner  a  little  garden-house,  which  stood  upon  the  old 
city-wall,  and  in  the  family  rejoiced  in  the  pompous  name  of 
Belvedere,  because  from  it  a  charming  view  might  have  been 
had,  over  the  ramparts,  of  a  large  part  of  the  strait  and  a  still 
larger  part  of  the  island,  if  one  could  only  have  opened  the 
windows.  But  the  window-frames  were  very  old,  and  rotten 
and  warped  with  age ;  the  sashes  were  narrow,  and  the  reg- 
ular pattern  they  once  presented  could  scarcely  now  be  dis- 
cerned in  the  small,  lead-set  panes  of  stained  glass  which 
had  once  belonged  to  an  adjacent  chapel,  now  in  ruins. 
The  house  was  to  a  certain  extent  a  ruin,  as  the  wood  of 
which  it  was  built  had  not  entirely  resisted  for  so  many  years 
the  influences  of  the  sun,  the  rain,  and  the  sea-breeze ;  and 
it  was  in  consequence  but  seldom  used,  far  more  rarely  than 
the  space  immediately  in  front  of  it,  which  was,  in  reality, 
the  summer  residence  of  the  family,  where  they  passed  the 
best  part  of  the  time  in  fine  weather. 

This  spot  fully  deserved  their  preference.  On  a  level  with 
the  garden-house  and  the  crest  of  the  wall,  and  thus  consid- 
erably higher  than  the  rest  of  the  garden,  it  was  reached  by  a 
refreshing  breeze  from  the  near  sea,  while  but  rarely  did  a 
ray  of  the  noon  sun  pierce  the  thick  foliage  of  the  old  plane- 
trees  that  surrounded  it.  The  spaces  between  the  trunks  of 
these  trees  were  filled  up  with  the  green  wall  of  a  living 
hedge,  which  added  to  the  cosy,  secluded  character  of  the 
spot,  and  threw  into  bold  relief  the  figures  of  six  hermce  of 
sandstone.  Two  round  pine  tables,  painted  green,  stood  on 
either  side,  with  the  needfiil  chairs,  and  invited  to  work  or 
to  reverie. 

Of  the  two  persons  who  were  sitting  here  one  fine  after- 
noon in  August,  about  a  fortnight  after  I  had  been  able  to 
leave  my  room,  the  one  was  occupied — if  day-dreaming  may 
be  called  an  occupation  with  the  other ;  while  the  other  was 
really  diligently  at  work.  The  dreamer  was  myself;  and  a 
light  covering,  which,  despite  the  warmth  of  the  day,  was 


252  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

thrown  across  my  lap,  seemed  meant  to  indicate  that  I  was 
still  a  convalescent,  to  whom  dreaming  is  allowed  and  work 
forbidden  ;  while  the  other  was  a  young  maiden  of  about 
fourteen  years,  and  her  work  consisted  in  drawing  a  life-size 
head  d,  deux  crayons  upon  a  sketching-board.  During  her 
work  she  frequently  raised  her  eyes  from  her  sketching- 
board  to  me,  and  if  I  must  name  the  subject  of  my  dreams,  I 
must  confess  that  it  was  these  eyes  of  hers. 

And  indeed  one  did  not  need  to  be  twenty  years  old,  and 
a  convalescent,  and  in  addition  precisely  the  one  upon  whom 
these  eyes  were  so  often  fixed  with  that  peculiar  look  at 
once  decisive  and  doubtful,  piercing  and  superficial,  which 
the  painter  casts  upon  his  model — I  say  one  did  not  need  to 
be  either  of  these,  let  alone  all  three  at  once,  to  be  fettered 
by  these  eyes.  They  were  large  and  blue,  with  that  depth 
in  them  which  has  a  surface  on  which  play  every  emotion  of 
feeling,  every  glancing  light  and  passing  shadow,  and  which 
yet  remains  in  itself  something  unfathomable.  Once  already, 
and  that  not  so  long  before,  I  had  looked  into  eyes  that 
were  unfathomable,  at  least  for  me,  but  how  different  were 
these !  I  felt  the  difference,  and  yet  was  not  able  precisely 
to  define  it.  I  only  knew  that  these  eyes  did  not  confuse 
and  disquiet  me,  did  not  kindle  me  into  a  flame  to-day  to 
chill  me  as  with  ice  to-morrow  ;  but  that  I  could  gaze  into 
them  again  and  again  as  one  gazes  into  the  clear  sky,  full 
of  blissful  calm,  and  no  wish,  no  desire  awakens  within  us, 
unless  it  be  the  longing  to  have  wings. 

What  possibly  may  have  caused  these  large  deep  eyes  of 
the  maiden  to  appear  larger  and  deeper,  was  the  circum- 
stance that  they  were  by  far  the  chief  beauty  of  her  face. 
Some  said  the  only  beauty ;  but  I  could  not  at  that  time 
agree  with  this  opinion.  Her  features  were  indeed  not  per- 
fectly regular,  and  certainly  not  at  all  what  is  called  striking, 
but  there  was  nothing  ignoble  about  them ;  on  the  contrary, 
all  was  refined  and  full  of  character,  at  once  bright  and 
thoughtful,  designed  in  soft  yet  well-marked  lines.  Espe- 
cially did  this  apply  to  the  mouth,  which  seemed  to  speak 
even  when  the  lips  were  shut.  And  this  bright,  intelligent, 
rather  pale  face  was  inclosed  by  two  thick  plaits  of  the  rich- 
est blond  hair,  which,  as  was  then  the  fashion,  commenced 
at  the  temples  and  were  carried  under  the  ears  to  the  back 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  253 

of  the  head — almost  too  heavy  a  frame,  one  would  have  said, 
for  the  delicate  head,  which  was  usually  inclined  a  little  for- 
ward or  to  one  side.  This  attitude,  combined  with  her 
usual  seriousness  of  expression,  gave  the  maiden  an  appear- 
ance of  being  several  years  older  than  she  really  was.  But 
work  and  care  soon  brush  away  the  first  lustre  of  youth  ; 
and  she,  though  hardly  more  than  a  child,  knew  what  work 
was  but  too  well,  and  over  her  young  life  care  had  already 
cast  its  gloomy  shadow. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

AT  this  moment,  however,  a  smile  played  over  her  se- 
rious face.  She  looked  over  her  sketching-board  at 
me  and  said :  "You  can  get  up,  if  you  wish." 

"  Have  you  finished  ?"  I  asked,  availing  myself  of  the  per- 
mission, and  going  behind  her  chair.  "  Why,  you  are  still  at 
work  on  the  eyes.     How  can  you  have  so  much  patience  ?" 

"  And  you  so  much  impatience  ?"  she  asked  in  return, 
quietly  going  on  with  her  drawing.  "  You  are  just  like  our 
little  Oscar.  When  he  has  planted  a  bean,  five  minutes  af- 
terwards he  digs  it  up  again  to  see  if  it  has  grown  at  all." 

"But  he  is  only  seven  years  old." 

"  Old  enough  to  know  that  beans  do  not  grow  so  fast  as 
that." 

"  You  always  find  fault  with  Oscar,  and  after  all  he  is  your 
pet."  ^ 

"  Who  says  so  ?" 

"  Benno  told  me  so  yesterday,  in  strictest  confidence.  I 
was  not  to  tell  you." 

"  Then  vou  ought  not  to  have  told  me." 

"But  he  is  right." 

"  No,  he  is  not  right.  Oscar  is  the  smallest,  and  therefore 
I  must  look  after  him  the  most.  Benno  and  Kurt  can  get 
along  without  me." 

"  Except  their  exercises,  which  you  correct  for  them." 

"  Now  take  your  seat  again." 


2  54  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  I  may  speak,  may  I  not  ?" 

"Certainly." 

I  had  taken  my  seat,  but  several  minutes  passed  while  I 
sat  silently  watching  her  work.  A  ray  of  the  evening  sun, 
which  pierced  the  thick  foliage  of  the  great  plane,  fell  upon 
her  head  and  surrounded  it  with  an  aureole, 

"Fraulein  Paula,"  I  said. 

"  Paula,"  she  answered,  without  looking  up. 

"  Paula,  then." 

"Well?"  : 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  sister  like  you."  1 

"You  have  a  sister." 

"  But  she  is  so  much  older  than  I,  and  never  cared  much 
for  me  ;  and  now  she  of  course  will  have  nothing  more  to 
do  with  me."  , 

"  Where  did  you  say  that  she  lives  ?" 

"  On  the  Polish  frontier.  She  has  been  married,  these  ten 
years,  to  an  officer  in  the  customs.  She  has  a  number  of 
children." 

"  Then  she  has  enough  to  do  with  them  ;  you  must  not  be 
angry  with  her." 

"  I  am  not  angry  with  her  ;  I  hardly  know  her  ;  I  believe 
I  should  pass  her  by  if  I  met  her  on  the  street." 

"  That  is  not  well ;  brothers  and  sisters  should  hold  to- 
gether. If  I  thought  that  ten  or  twenty  years  hence  I  should 
meet  Benno  or  Kurt  or  my  little  Oscar  on  the  street  and  they 
would  not  know  me,  I  should  be  very  unhappy." 

"They  would  know  you,  even  if  fifty  years  had  passed." 

"  I  should  be  an  old  woman  then  ;  but  I  shall  never  be  so 
old." 

"Why  not?" 

"  By  that  time  the  boys  will  have  long  been  men,  and  will 
have  wives  and  children,  and  my  father  and  my  mother  will 
long  have  been  buried,  and  what  should  I  then  do  in  the 
world  ?  "  ,  , 

"  But  you  will  marry  too." 

"Never,"  she  replied.  '-       >--'.■-•-.•   ••    •  j 

Her  voice  was  so  serious,  and  her  great  blue  eyes  that 
looked  over  the  board  at  my  forehead,  which  she  was  then 
drawing,  had  so  grave  an  expression,  that  I  could  not  laugh, 
as  I  at  first  felt  disposed  to  do.  '^  .....      -  . 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  255 

«  Why  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  When  the  boys  can  do  without  me,  I  will  be  too  old." 
"  But  you  cannot  always  go  on  correcting  their  exercises." 
"  I  do  not  know ;  it  seems  to  me  as  if  I  should  always  do 

it." 

"  Even  when  they  are  learning  Latin  and  Greek  ?  " 

"  I  learn  Latin  with  them  now ;  why  should  I  not  learn 
Greek  too  ? " 

"  Greek  is  so  desperately  hard  ;  I  tell  you,  Paula,  the 
irregular  verbs — no  human  creature  can  learn  them  unless  it 
be  gymnasium  professors,  and  I  never  can  believe  that  they 
are  exactly  men." 

"  That  is  one  of  your  jokes,  which  you  must  not  let  Benno 
hear :  he  wants  to  be  a  teacher." 

"  I  think  I  will  get  that  notion  out  of  his  head." 

"  Do  not  do  so.  Why  should  he  not  be  a  teacher  if  he  has 
a  liking  for  it,  and  talent  enough  ?  I  do  not  know  anything 
more  delightful  than  to  teach  any  one  something  which  I  be- 
lieve to  be  good  and  useful  to  him.  And  then  it  is  a  good 
position  for  one  in  Benno's  circumstances.  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  when  one  makes  no  great  pretensions,  he  can  soon 
secure  a  modest  sufficiency.  My  father,  it  is  true,  has  other 
views  :  he  would  like  Benno  to  be  a  physician  or  naturalist. 
But  these  are  expensive  professions  to  learn  ;  and  although 
my  father  always  takes  a  hopeful  view — but  I  am  not  sure 
that  he  always  does." 

Paula  bent  her  head  over  her  sketching-board,  and  went 
on  with  her  drawing  more  assiduously  than  ever  ;  but  I  saw 
that  once  or  twice  she  raised  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes. 
It  gave  me  pain  to  see  it.  I  knew  what  anxiety,  and  that 
too  well-founded,  Paula  felt  for  her  father's  health,  whom  she 
loved  devotedly. 

"  Fraulein  Paula,"  I  said. 

She  did  not  correct  me  this  time — ^perhaps  did  not  hear 
me. 

"Fraulein  Paula,"  I  said  again,  "you  must  not  cherish 
such  gloomy  thoughts.  Your  father  is  not  so  ill :  and  then 
you  would  not  believe  what  a  race  the  Zehrens  are.  Herr 
von  Zehren  used  to  call  the  steuerrath  a  weakling,  and  yet 
he  might  take  an  undisputed  place  among  those  who  account 
themselves  robust  men ;  but  Herr  von  Zehren  himself  was  a 


256  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

man  of  steel,  and  yet  he  once  told  me  that  his  youngest 
brother  was  a  match  for  two  like  him.  And  you  see  a  strong 
constitution  is  everything,  Doctor  Snellius  says,  and  so  I  say 
too."  .         I 

"  To  be  sure,  if  you  say  so " 

Paula  looked  up,  and  a  melancholy  smile  played  about 
her  beautiful  lips. 

"  You  mean  that  a  miserable  scarecrow,  such  as  I  sit  here, 
has  no  business  to  be  talking  about  strength  ?" 

"  O  no  ;  I  know  how  strong  you  were  before  you  were  ill ; 
and  how  soon  you  would  be  strong  again,  if  you  would  take 
proper  care  of  yourself,  which  you  do  not  always  do.  For  ex- 
ample, you  ought  never  to  be  sitting  here  without  some  wrap- 
pings, and  you  have  let  the  coverlid  fall  off  your  lap ;  but- 


(( 


But ?"  said  I,  obediently  drawing  up  the  coverlid 

over  my  knees. 

"  I  mean  that  it  is  not  quite  right  to  say  that  a  strong  con- 
stitution is  everything.  Kurt  there  is  certainly  the  strongest 
of  the  boys,  and  yet  Oscar  can  read,  write,  and  cipher  as 
well  as  he,  though  Kurt  is  nine  years  old,  and  Oscar  only 


seven." 


"  But  you  see  Oscar  is  your  favorite." 

"  That  is  not  kind  of  you,"  Paula  said. 

She  said  it  gently  and  pleasantly,  without  a  trace  of  offence, 
and  yet  I  felt  the  blood  rush  to  my  cheeks.  I  felt  as  though 
I  had  struck  a  defenceless  child. 

"  No,  it  was  not  at  all  kind,"  I  said,  with  warmth  ;  "  it  was 
a  very  unfeeling  speech  ;  I  do  not  know  how  I  could  say  it. 
But  clever  boys  have  always  been  held  up  to  me  as  models, 
and  the  comparison  always  carried  with  it  so  many  disagree- 
able allusions  to  myself,  that  the  blood  always  rises  to  my 
head  when  I  hear  them  talked  about.  It  always  makes  me 
think  how  stupid  I  am." 

"You  ought  not  to  call  yourself  stupid." 

"  Well  then,  that  I  know  so  little ;  that  I  have  learned  so 
very  little." 

"  But  that  is  nobody's  fault  but  yours — that  is,  supposing 
it  to  be  really  the  case." 

"  It  is  the  case,"  I  answered.  "  It  is  frightful  how  little 
I  know.  To  say  nothing  at  all  about  Greek,  which  I  main- 
tain to  be  too  hard,  and  only  invented  by  teachers  on  pur- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  257 

pose  to  torment  us,  my  Latin  does  not  amount  to  much,  and 
that  is  certainly  my  fault,  for  I  have  seen  how  Arthur,  who  I 
don't  believe  is  a  bit  cleverer  than  I  am,  could  get  along  with 
it  very  well  when  he  tried.  Your  English  books,  in  which 
you  read  so  much,  might  all  be  Greek  for  me  ;  and  as  for 
French — perhaps  I  can  still  conjugate  avoir  and  ttre,  but  I 
doubt  it.  And  yesterday,  when  Benno  could  not  get  his  ex- 
ercises right,  and  asked  me,  and  I  told  him  he  must  get  them 
right  himself — I  don't  mind  telling  you  that  I  had  not  the 
slightest  notion  how  to  begin  them — and  when  he  afterwards 
got  them  right  by  himself,  I  felt  shamed  by  a  boy  eleven 
years  old ;  just  as  I  have  felt  ashamed  before  Dr.  Busch, 
our  professor  of  mathematics,  whenever,  as  he  always  did, 
he  wrote  under  my  work,  '  Thoroughly  bad,'  or  '  Quite  re- 
markably bad,'  or  'Very  well  copied,'  or  some  such  ma- 
liciousness." 

While  I  thus  remorsefully  confessed  my  shortcomings, 
Paula  looked  steadily  at  me  with  her  great  eyes,  from  time  to 
time  shaking  her  head,  as  if  she  could  not  believe  her  ears. 

"  If  this  is  really  so " 

"Why  do  you  always  say  'if,'  Paula.?  Little  as  I  have 
learned,  I  have  at  least  learned  to  tell  the  truth,' and  I  would 
never  attempt  a  falsehood  with  you." 

The  maiden  blushed  to  her  blond  tresses. 

"  Forgive  me,"  she  said  ;  "  I  did  not  mean  to  wound  you  ; 
although  I  can  scarcely  believe  that  you — that  you  spent  so 
ill  your  time  at  school.  I  only  meant  to  say  that  you  must 
make  it  good  again  ;  you  must  make  up  for  that  lost  time." 

"Easily  said,  Paula!  How  am  I  to  begin?  Benno 
knows  more  French,  geography,  and  mathematics  than  I, 
and  he  is  only  eleven  years  old,  and  next  month  I  am 
twenty." 

Paula  pushed  the  drawing-board  away  from  her  upon  the 
table,  and  leaned  her  head  upon  her  hand,  apparently  in 
order  better  to  ponder  over  so  desperate  a  case.  Suddenly 
she  raised  her  head  and  said  : 

"  You  must  speak  to  my  father." 

•  What  shall  I  tell  him  ?  " 

■' All  that  you  have  told  me." 

"  He  will  not  be  able  to  help  me  either." 

"He  will,  be  sure.     You  do   not   know  how  much   my 


aS^  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

father  knows.  He  knows  everything — understands  every- 
thing." 

"  That  I  well  believe,  Paula ;  but  how  can  that  help  me  ? 
He  can  give  me  no  part  of  his  knowledge,  even  if  he  were  so 
kind  as  to  wish  it." 

"  True,  he  cannot  do  that ;  you  must  work  yourself ;  but 
how  to  work  the  best,  and  how  to  succeed  the  soonest,  he 
knows,  and  will  tell  you  if  you  ask  him.     Will  you  ? " 

«  Yes,  I  will ;  but " 

"No — no  'buts.'  I  am  not  to  say  *if,'  so  you  must  not 
say 'but'     Will  you.?"  , 

"Yes."  "  ^ 

As  to  utter  this  "  yes  "  required  some  determination  on 
my  part,  I  spoke  it  in  a  firm  loud  voice.  Paula  folded  her 
hands  and  bent  her  head,  as  if  she  were  inwardly  praying 
that  my  resolution  might  be  blessed.  Everything  was  calm 
around  ;  only  a  bird  twittered,  and  the  red  sunset-rays 
glanced  through  the  twigs.  It  may  have  been  a  remnant  of 
weakness  which  still  clung  to  me,  but  a  strange  and  solemn 
feeling  possessed  me.  It  was  as  though  I  were  in  a  temple, 
and  had  just  pronounced  a  solemn  vow  by  which  I  broke 
away  from  my  entire  past,  and  devoted  myself  to  a  new  life 
and  to  new  obligations.  And  while  thus  thinking  I  gazed 
with  fixed  eyes  at  the  dear  maiden,  who  sat  still,  her  hands 
folded,  her  thoughtful  head  bent — ^gazed  until  the  tears  came 
into  my  eyes,  and  trees,  sunlight,  and  maiden  were  lost 
behind  a  misty  veil. 

At  this  moment  clear  voices  came  ringing  from  the  garden  ; 
it  was  Paula's  brothers,  who  had  finished  their  task  in  the 
house,  and  now  were  joyously  hurrying  to  their  favorite  spot 
where  they  were  certain  of  finding  their  sister.  Paula  gath- 
ered up  her  drawing  materials,  and  was  spreading  a  sheet  of 
tissue-paper  over  her  drawing,  when  the  boys  came  bounding 
up  the  hill  at  full  speed  to  us. 

"  I  am  first !  "  cried  little  Oscar,  springing  into  his  sister's 
arms. 

"  Because  we  let  you,"  said  Kurt,  jumping  upon  my  knee. 

"  Let's  see,  Paula,"  said  Benno,  laying  his  hand  upon  his 
sister's  arm. 

Paula  threw  back  the  tissue-paper.  Benno  looked  atten- 
tively at  the  drawing,  and  then  carefully  compared  it  with  the 


^■<«r?B;5«»f:^,?l'^Tis™««;;;  . 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  259 

original.  Kurt  jumped  down  from  my  knee  to  examine  his 
sister's  work  too.  Even  Oscar  stuck  his  curly  head  from  un- 
der her  arm  to  see  what  was  going  on.  It  was  a  charming 
group,  the  three  boys  clustered  around  the  sister,  now  turn- 
ing their  bright  eyes  upon  me,  and  then  fixing  them  on  the 
picture, 

"  That  is  Uncle  Doctor  !  "  said  Oscar.- 

Paula  smiled  and  gently  stroked  the  pretty  boy's  blond 
curls. 

"  You  are  silly,"  said  Kurt ;  "  he  wears  spectacles." 

"  It  is  well  done,  Paula,"  said  Benno,  with  the  air  of  a 
connoisseur. 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes  ;  only  he  is  not  so  good-looking." 

"  Now  you  have  all  seen  it,"  said  Paula,  in  a  tone  of  de- 
cision.    "  Benno,  carry  it  into  the  Belvedere." 

"  I  will  carry  it !  "   said  Kurt. 

"  No,  I !  "  cried  Oscar. 

"  Have  you  not  heard  that  I  am  to  carry  it  ?  "  said  Benno. 
"  You  are  too  little." 

"  O  yes,  you  are  the  big  one  !  "  said  Kurt,  scornfully. 

"  Hush,  hush  ! "  said  Paula.  "  No  disputes  about  it. 
He  who  is  older  is  bigger,  and  cannot  help  it ;  and  he  who 
is  younger  is  smaller,  and  cannot  help  it  either." 

"  No,  Paula,"  said  Kurt,  "  that  is  not  so,  George  is 
younger  than  father,  and  bigger  too." 

"  Here  comes  father,"  said  Paula,  "  and  mother  with  him ; 
and  now  be  quiet." 

The  superintendent  came  up  the  path  ;  his  wife  held  his 
arm,  and  he  was  leading  her  slowly.  Her  eyes  were  covered 
with  a  broad  green  shade.  Behind  them,  now  on  the  left 
and  now  on  the  right  side  of  the  path,  turning  his  uncovered 
head  first  in  one  way  and  then  in  another,  with  a  hat  and 
stick  that  he  kept  changing  from  hand  to  hand,  came  a  short 
compact  figure  with  a  disproportionately  large  head,  whose 
perfectly  bald  surface  shone  in  the  light  of  the  evening 
sun. 

This  was  Dr.  Willibrod  Snellius,  resident  physician  and 
friend  of  the  family. 

I  had  arisen,  and  advanced  a  few  paces  to  meet  them. 

"  How  are  you  now  ? "  asked  the  superintendent,  giving 


26o  Hammer  and  Anvil.  | 

■■  .    f  ■■ 

me  his  hand  ;  "  has  your  first  long  stay  in  the  open  air  done 
you  good  ? " 

"  We  will  ask  about  that  early  to-morrow  morning — hm, 
hm,  hm  !  "  said  the  doctor. 

Doctor  Snellius  had  a  habit  of  accompanying  his  remarks 
with  a  peculiar  nasal  sound  which  was  half  a  grunt  and  half 
a  snort,  and  always  just  an  octave  below  his  ordinary  voice, 
which  was  very  thin  and  of  an  unusually  high  pitch.  This 
shrill  voice  was  the  trial  of  his  life  to  the  doctor,  who  was  a 
man  of  great  taste;  and  by  the  deep,  growling  sound  he 
emitted  from  time  to  time,  he  strove,  according  to  his  own 
explanation,  to  convince  himself  that  he  was  really  a  man 
and  not  a  cock,  as  his  voice  would  indicate. 

"  But  you  ordered  it  yourself,  doctor,"  said  the  superin- 
tendent. 

"  Can  I  know  from  that  that  it  will  do  him  good  ? — hm,  hm, 
hm  !  "  said  Dr.  Snellius.  "  It  was  a  medicine  like  another. 
If  I  always  knew  what  effect  my  prescriptions  would  have,  I 
would  die  Baron  Willibrod  Snellius  of  Snelliusburg — hm,  hm, 
hm  !" 

"  Any  one  to  hear  you  would  think  that  all  your  science 
was  mere  illusion,"  said  Frau  von  Zehren,  taking  her  seat 
upon  a  chair  which  Paula  had  placed  for  her. 

"  You  have  certainly  but  slight  reason  to  consider  us  wiz- 
ards, gnddige  Frau  I " 

"  Just  because  I  do  not  so  consider  you,  I  do  not  expect 
from  you  what  is  probably  impossible." 

Frau  von  Zehren  removed  the  disfiguring  shade  and  raised 
her  eyes  with  a  look  of  thankfulness  to  the  foliage  of  the  trees 
which  kindly  softened  the  daylight  for  them.  How  lovely 
must  those  eyes  have  been  while  they  were  yet  radiant  with 
youth  and  happiness  !  How  fair  this  face  before  sickness 
had  wasted  its  beauteous  features,  and  far  too  soon — for 
Frau  von  Zehren  was  hardly  forty  years  of  age — whitened  the 
luxuriant  hair  !  Pale  and  wasted  as  she  was,  she  was  still 
beautiful — at  least  to  me,  who,  short  a  time  as  I  had  been 
near  her,  had  already  learned  her  angelic  goodness,  and 
how  with  the  inexpressible  devotion  with  which  she  clung  to 
her  husband  and  her  children,  her  heart  was  full  of  sympathy 
for  all  who  suffered  or  sorrowed. 

"We  shall  soon  have  a  visit  from  your  friend  Arthur,"  said 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  261 

the  superintendent  to  me,  drawing  me  a  little  to  one  side ; 
"  but  I  think  you  said  he  had  not  dealt  with  you  in  the  most 
friendly  manner." 

"  He  has  not,"  I  answered.  "  I  should  speak  falsely  to 
say  otherwise.     But  what  brings  him  here  t" 

"  He  passed  his  examination  at  Easter,  and  is  ordered  to 
the  battalion  stationed  here,  with  the  rank  of  ensign.  We 
shall  probably  see  his  parents  also ;  and  it  may  be  the  com- 
merzienrath,  if  he  condescends  to  manage  his  affairs  in  per- 
son. The  matter  in  question  is  the  inheritance  of  my  brother, 
or  so  much  of  it  as  has  thus  far  escaped  the  hands  of  justice 
and  of  his  creditors,  among  whom,  as  you  know,  the  commer- 
zienrath  holds  the  first  place.  The  affair  is  rendered  more 
difficult  from  the  fact  that  all  his  papers  were  destroyed  when 
the  castle  was  burned.  Constance  has  sent  from  Naples  a 
formal  renunciation  of  the  inheritance,  and  so  there  remain 
really  only  my  brother  and  the  commerzienrath,  as  I  for  my 
part  prefer  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  whole  affair ;  in- 
deed I  will  add  that  if  it  were  not  a  duty  to  meet  with  dig- 
nity what  is  inevitable,  I  should  look  forward  to  the  meeting 
with  great  repugnance.  What  will  not  be  brought  up  at  such 
a  conference  ?     What  do  you  want,  my  child  ?" 

Oscar  must  needs  show  his  father  an  unlucky  beetle  that 
had  run  across  his  path.  I  remained  sitting  in  the  garden- 
house,  ^unk  in  painful  reflection  such  as  had  not  entered  my 
mind  since  I  had  risen  from  my  bed  of  sickness.  Arthur  ! 
Constance  !  Arthur,  who  had  so  cruelly  turned  against  me ; 
Constance,  who  had  so  shamefully  deceived  me  !  The  steu- 
errath,  whom  I  knew  to  have  been  the  cowardly  accomplice 
of  his  brave  brother ;  and  the  commerzienrath,  who  had 
traded  in  the  recklessness  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  and,  in  all 
likelihood,  had  hastened,  if  not  brought  about  his  ruin. 
What  a  tumult  of  emotions  did  not  these  names  arouse  within 
qie !  How  hateful  appeared  to  me  all  my  past,  into  which 
these  names  and  these  persons  were  forever  interwoven  ! — 
hateful  as  the  island  even  now  appeared  through  a  dingy 
sulphur-yellow  pane  of  the  window  at  which  I  was  standing. 
And  now,  as  I  turned  away  with  a  sigh,  my  glance  fell  through 
the  open  door  upon  the  space  under  the  plane-trees,  filled 
with  the  pure  bright  evening  light,  and  upon  the  persons  that 
were  moving  in  it.     The  superintendent  and  the  doctor  were 


262  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

walking,  the  latter  first  on  the  right  and  then  on  the  left,  and 
both  in  animated  conversation  ;  the  two  eldest  boys  were 
playing  about  the  knees  of  their  mother,  who,  sitting  in  her 
easy-chair,  laughed  and  sported  with  them  ;  Paula  had  taken 
the  tea-things  from  the  maid,  and  was  setting  the  table,  as 
they  were  about  to  take  tea  in  the  open  air,  as  was  their  cus- 
tom in  fine  weather.  How  deftly  she  did  it  all ;  how  silently, 
that  the  gentlemen  might  not  be  disturbed  in  their  conversa- 
tion, and  that  no  clatter  of  plates  should  annoy  her  mother's 
sensitive  nerves  !  And  how  with  it  all  she  had  time  to  chat 
with  the  little  Oscar,  who  kept  close  at  her  side,  and  to  look 
if  I  was  not  exposing  myself  too  much  to  the  wind  !  Yes, 
the  bright  peaceful  present  was  fairer  than  my  dark  stormy 
past ;  and  yet  it  seemed  as  though  a  shadow  was  cast  across 
this  also.  If  Arthur  came  here ;  if,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
he  was  received  into  the  family  as  a  kinsman ;  if,  with  his 
plausible  address,  he  wormed  his  way  into  the  confidence  of 
these  unsuspicious  people,  and  won  their  favor  with  his  insin- 
uating manners — if  he,  who  as  a  mere  boy  had  practised 
the  wiles  of  the  rake,  should  dare — and  his  insolence  would 
dare  anything — to  pay  his  insidious  court  to  Paula,  his  cousin  ! 
I  must  still  have  been  very  weak,  for  I  trembled  at  this 
thought  from  head  to  foot,  and  started  violently  as  I  per- 
ceived some  one  coming  up  the  garden  path  towards  the  plane- 
trees.  I  thought  for  a  moment  it  must  be  he  whom  I  had 
once  loved  so  dearly,  and  now  so  hated. 

But  it  was  no  dandy  ensign  glittering  in  his  new  uniform, 
but  a  lean  man  dressed  in  black,  wearing  an  extremely  nar- 
row white  cravat,  and  a  low-crowned  hat  with  very  broad 
brim,  and  whose  sleek  dark  hair,  unfashionably  long,  was 
seen,  when  he  took  off"  his  hat  in  a  polite  salutation,  to  be 
parted  in  the  middle,  and  combed  back  behind  his  ears.  I 
knew  the  gentleman  well ;  I  had  seen  him  often  enough 
crossing  the  prison-yard  with  slow  pace  and  bowed  head,  en- 
tering this  or  that  cell,  and  after  a  while  coming  out  again, 
always  in  the  same  attitude  of  humility.  Indeed  I  already 
enjoyed  the  happiness  of  a  personal  acquaintance,  as  he  had 
one  day  unexpectedly  entered  my  sick-room,  and  begun  to 
talk  about  the  welfare  of  my  soul ;  and  I  should  more  fre- 
quently have  enjoyed  this  felicity,  had  not  Dr.  Snellius,  who 
came  in,  put  a  stop  to  it  by  giving  him  to  understand  that  at 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  263 

the  time  the  question  was  not  that  of  the  welfare  of  my 
soul,  but  that  of  my  body,  which  was  not  likely  to  be  bene- 
fited by  such  exciting  topics.  Indeed  this  difference  of  opin- 
ion led  to  a  rather  lively  dispute  at  the  door  of  my  room, 
and,  as  it  seemed,  they  came  to  pretty  hard  words ;  so  that 
it  was  clearly  a  proof  of  the  placable  disposition  of  the 
Deacon  and  Prison-Chaplain  Ewald  von  Krossow,  that  he 
now,  after  bidding  the  family  good  evening,  politely  saluted 
the  doctor,  and  even  offered  me  his  hand. 

"  How  are  you,  my  friend  ?  "  he  asked,  in  his  soft  voice. 
"  But  how  can  it  be  other  than  well  with  you,  since  I  find 
you  still  in  the  open  air,  though  it  is  already  growing  some- 
what chilly.  This  is  no  impeachment  of  your  better  knowl- 
edge, doctor.     I  well  know  \\\.2X  prcssente  medico  nihil  nocet. " 

The  doctor  gave  a  scrape  with  his  right  foot,  like  a  cock 
who  is  preparing  for  battle,  and  crowed  in  his  sharpest  tones  : 

"  It  was  unfortunate,  then,  that  when  Adam  ate  that  unlucky 
apple,  there  was  no  doctor  by.  The  poor  fellow  would  prob- 
ably be  living  now.     Hm,  hm  !  " 

He  glared  wrathfully  through  his  spectacles  at  the  chap- 
lain to  see  if  his  shot  had  told,  but  the  chaplain  only  smiled. 

"  Still  sitting  in  the  seat  of  the  scorner,  doctor  } " 

"  I  must  stay  where  I  am ;  I  do  not  belong  to  those  who 
are  never  squeamish  about  pushing  for  a  good  place." 

"  But  to  those  who  are  never  at  a  loss  for  a  sharp  answer." 

"  Sharp  only  for  souls  as  soft  as  butter." 

"  You  know  that  I  am  a  minister  of  peace." 

"  But  you  may  change  your  service." 

"  And  that  it  is  my  office  to  forgive." 

"  If  you  hold  your  office  from  above,  probably  the  neces- 
sary understanding  for  it  has  not  been  forgotten." 

"  Doctor  ! " 

"  Herr  von  Krossow." 

This  conversation  was  hardly  meant  for  my  ears,  at  least 
on  the  chaplain's  side,  who  spoke  throughout,  even  to  his 
last  exclamation,  in  the  gentle,  deprecatory  tone  of  wounded 
innocence,  and  now,  with  a  pitjdng  shrug  of  the  shoulders, 
turned  away  and  joined  the  others. 

That  game-cock,  the  doctor,  whose  antagonist  had  so  un- 
expectedly quitted  the  field,  wore  an  air  of  blank  surprise 
for  a  moment,  then  burst  into  a  hoarse  crowing  laugh,  shook 


264  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

his  arms  like  a  pair  of  wings,  and  turned  suddenly  to  me,  as 
if  he  felt  the  greatest  desire  to  turn  his  baffled  pugnacity 
upon  me. 

"You  would  be  acting  more  sensibly  to  go  to  your  room." 

"I  have  only  been  waiting  for  your  orders." 

"  And  now  you  have  them  ;  and  I  will  see  to  their  prompt 
execution  myself." 

He  took  my  arm  and  hurried  me  so  rapidly  away,  that  I 
had  hardly  time  to  bid  the  company  good-night.  His  ire 
had  not  evaporated  :  he  snorted,  he  grunted,  he  clicked  with 
his  tongue,  and  growled  at  intervals  :  "  The  scamp  —  the 
scamp — the  scamp  !  " 

"  You  seem  to  have  no  very  high  opinion  of  our  chaplain," 
I  said. 

"  Don't  you  grow  ironical,  young  man  !  "  said  the  doctor, 
looking  up  at  me.  "  High  opinion !  high  fiddlesticks  ! 
How  can  there  be  but  one  opinion  of  such  a  fellow  ?  " 

"  Yet  the  superintendent  is  always  friendly  to  him."        ' 

"  Because  he  is  friendly  to  every  one  ;  and  besides  it  does 
not  occur  to  him  that  this  is  not  a  man  but  a  snake.  Yes, 
that  is  easy  enough  to  do,  when  other  honest  folks  are  left 
to  do  the  rudeness."  I 

"  That  is  no  great  trouble  for  you,  doctor." 

"  Young  man,  I  say,  do  not  exasperate  me.  I  tell  you  the 
thing  is  no  trifling  matter  ;  for  if  I  cannot  drive  the  fellow 
away,  he  will  sooner  or  later  oust  us  all,  and  his  kind  friend 
the  superintendent,  the  very  first.  He  has  done  you  an  ill 
turn  already." 

"  Me  ?  " 

"Yes,  you,  the  superintendent,  myself.  He  would  like 
well  to  kill  three  birds  v/ith  one  stone." 

"  Tell  me  about  it,  doctor,  I  beg  you."  ] 

"  I  would  tell  you  without  your  asking.  Sit  down  in  your 
easy-chair  and  make  yourself  comfortable  :  it  is  likely  to  be 
the  last  time  you  will  sit  in  it." 

We  had  reached  my  room  ;  the  doctor  pushed  me  into  the 
easy-chair,  while  he  stood  before  me — sometimes  on  one  leg, 
sometimes  on  the  other,  but  rarely  on  both  at  once — and 
spoke  as  follows  : 

*'  The  case  is  simple,  and  therefore  plain.  To  this  pietis- 
tic,  aristocratic,  beggarly  mawworm,  who  has  had  hiniself 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  265 

appointed  prison-chaplain  to  let  the  light  of  his  Christian 
humility  shine  before  men,  the  humanitarian  superintendent 
and  the  materialist  doctor  are  an  abomination.  To  a  fellow 
like  that,  humanity  is  a  democratic  weakness,  and  matter  he 
does  not  respect,  unless  it  is  eatable.  With  the  deceased 
pastor  Michaelis,  a  man  of  the  good  old  rationalistic  school, 
we  lived  as  if  we  were  in  paradise  ;  he  and  Herr  von  Zehren, 
or  rather  Herr  von  Zehren  and  he,  in  the  twenty  years  that 
they  worked  together,  made  the  establishment  what  it  is  ; 
that  is,  a  model,  in  every  sense  of  the  word  ;  and  during  the 
five  years  that  I  have  been  here  I  have  done  all  in  my  power 
to  imbue  myself  with  the  spirit  of  these  men,  and  I  believe 
that  I  have  indifferently  well  succeeded.  Now  for  this  half 
year,  since  Michaelis  is  dead,  and  this  pietistic  snake  has 
wormed  himself  into  our  paradise,  our  peace  has  gone  to  the 
deuce ;  the  snake  crawls  into  every  corner,  and  leaves  the 
track  of  his  slimy  nature  wherever  he  goes.  The  officers  are 
demoralized,  the  prisoners  mutinous.  Such  a  plot  as  that 
which  Cat-Kaspar  hatched — thank  heaven  we  are  rid  of  the 
rascal ;  he  is  transferred  to-day  to  N.,  where  he  ought  to 
have  been  sent  at  first — would  formerly  have  been  impossi- 
ble. Cat-Kaspar  was  a  pet  of  Mr.  Chaplain,  who  saw  in 
him  a  precious,  though  not  over-cleanly  vessel,  whose  purifi- 
cation was  his  allotted  task ;  and  he  begged  the  scoundrel 
out  of  the  solitary  confinement  in  which  the  superintendent 
had  judiciously  placed  him.  So  it  goes  on  ;  divine  worship 
publice,  prayers  privatim,  soul-saving  exhortations  prwatis- 
sime.  The  Judas  intrigues  against  us  wherever  and  when- 
ever he  can,  flatters  the  superintendent  to  his  face,  swallows 
down  my  rudeness,  and  thinks,  "  I  shall  have  you  both  soon," 
like  the  owl  when  he  heard  the  two  bulfinches  singing  round 
the  corner.  And  he  thinks  he  has  us  by  the  wings  already. 
You  know,  the  president  of  the  council,  who  is  just  such  an- 
other mawworm,  is  his  uncle,  and  uncle  and  nephew  are 
hand  and  glove.  The  president,  who  is  the  superintendent's 
immediate  superior,  would  have  removed  him  long  ago,  if 
Minister  von  Altenberg,  one  of  the  last  pillars  left  standing 
from  the  good  old  times,  and  Herr  vort  Zehren's  friend  and 
patron,  did  not  support  him,  though^with  but  a  feeble  arm,  it 
is  true ;  for  Altenberg  is  advanced  in  years,  in  ill  health,  and 
may  die  any  day.  In  the  meantime  they  work  as  they  can, 
12 


1 


266  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

and  collect  materials  to  be  water  to  the  mill  of  the  next  excel- 
lency. And  now  listen :  Assessor  Lerch,  my  good  friend, 
was  with  the  president  yesterday.  '  My  dear  Lerch,'  said 
the  president,  '  you  perhaps  can  give  me  some  information. 
There  is  another  complaint  against  Superintendent  von 
Zehren.'  *  Another,  Herr  President  ? '  asked  Lerch.  'Un- 
happily, another.  I  have  hitherto  taken  no  action  in  these 
matters,  though  I  have  not  disregarded  them  ;  but  this  case 
is  so  flagrant  that  I  must  take  it  in  hand  and  report  it  to  his 
excellency.  Only  think,  my  dear  Lerch,  Von  Zehren  has 
been  guilty  of  the — folly,  I  will  call  it,  of  allowing  the  young 
man  who  gained  such  an  unhappy  notoriety  in  connection 

with  the  smuggling  case  in  Uselin -'  and  now  it  all  comes 

out  that  the  superintendent,  immediately  after  the  catastrophe 
— out  of  which  the  denouncer  had  spun  a  pretty  story,  you 
may  suppose — did  not  send  you  to  the  mouldy  old  infirmary, 
where  you  would  infallibly  have  died,  but  took  you  into  his 
own  house,  kept  you  here,  and  still  keeps  you,  though  you 
have  been  a  convalescent  for  three  weeks  now  ;  that  he 
associates  with  you  as  with  his  equal  •  that  he  has  brought 
you  into  his  family,  and  indeed  made  you  a  member  of  it,  so 
to  speak.  Why  need  I  go  into  all  the  particulars  ?  hm,  hm, 
hm!" 

The  doctor  had  crowed  up  to  the  very  highest  note  of 
his  upper  register,  and  had  to  grunt  at  least  two  octaves  lower 
to  obtain  his  usual  satisfactory  reassurance. 

"  And  you  really  hold  that  man  as  the  denouncer  ? "  I 
cried,  angrily  springing  from  my  chair. 

"  I  know  it.  Would  I  otherwise  have  been  so  rude  to- 
day?" 1 

I  could  not  help  laughing.  As  if  growler  needed  any 
special  provocation  before  he  made  free  with  the  calves  of  an 
intrusive  clodhopper  !  But  the  affair  had  a  serious  side. 
The  thought  that  Herr  von  Zehren,  to  whom  I  owed  such 
limitless  gratitude,  whom  I  so  revered,  should  through  me  be 
brought  into  so  unpleasant  a  position,  was  intolerable. 

"  Advise  me,  help  me,  doctor  !  "  I  besought  him  earnestly. 

"  Yes,  advise,  help — when  I  always  told  you  that  this  state 
of  things  could  not  go  on.  However,  you  are  so  far  right : 
the  thing  must  be  helped.  And  in  truth  there  is  but  one  ex- 
pedient.    We  must  be  beforehand  with  the  viper,  and  so  for 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  267 

this  time  we  shall  draw  his  fangs.  I  know  the  sup>erintend- 
ent.  If  he  had  an  idea  that  they  wished  to  take  you  from 
him,  he  would  let  his  hand  be  hewn  off  before  he  would  give 
you  up.  Now  this  evening  do  you  complain  of  headache, 
and  again  to-morrow  evening  at  the  same  time.  Your  room 
is  on  the  ground-floor  ;  at  this  moment  there  is  not  another 
vacant.  Intermittent — quinine — a  higher,  more  airy  apart- 
ment— day  after  to-morrow  you  will  be  back  in  your  old  cell. 
Let  me  manage  it." 

So  I  let  Doctor  Willibrod  Snellius  manage  it ;  and  two 
days  later  I  was  sleeping,  if  not  under  lock  and  bolt,  at  least 
behind  the  iron  gratings  of  my  old  cell. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

I  STOOD  behind  these  iron  gratings  on  the  following 
morning,  and  looked  sadly  out  of  the  window.  Strange- 
ly enough,  I  had  not  thought  the  evening  before  that 
these  gratings  could  produce  any  unpleasant  sensations  in 
me  now,  and  yet  such  was  the  case.  They  served  ais  a 
grave  reminder  to  me  of  what  lately  I  had  almost  forgotten, 
that  I  was,  after  all,  a  prisoner.  "  It  makes  no  difference," 
the  superintendent  said,  when  I  took  leave  of  him,  and  all 
had  vied  to  make  a  family  festival  of  the  last  day  that  I  was 
to  spend  under  their  roof ;  but  be  that  as  it  might,  there  was 
a  difference.  My  breakfast  was  not  now  as  appetizing  as  it 
had  been  when  I  sat  at  it  under  the  high  trees  of  the  quiet 
garden  with  Frau  von  Zehren  and  Paula  ;  and  even  though 
I  could  go,  if  I  chose,  into  the  garden,  which  seemed  to  give 
me  a  friendly  greeting,  I  must  after  a  certain  time  return 
here  again. 

I  looked  around  the  cell,  and  now  first  remarked  what 
pains  they  had  taken  to  make  me  forget  where  I  was.  There 
was  the  picture  of  the  Sistine  Madonna  with  the  child,  which 
I  had  grown  to  love  so  during  my  illness,  and  which  was 
hung  opposite  my  bed,  just  as  it  had  hung  in  Paula's  roorii. 
There  stood  upon  the  bureau  the  same  two  terra-cotta  vases, 


268  Hammer  and  Am'il. 

and  in  each  a  couple  of  fresh  roses.  There  was  the  easy- 
chair  in  which  Dr.  Snellius  had  falsely  predicted  that  I  had 
sat  for  the  last  time,  and  over  the  back  hung  a  cover  of 
crotchet-work  on  which  I  had  seen  Paula  engaged  the  pre- 
vious evening.  There  hung  the  same  etagbre  with  the  same 
neatly-bound  books ;  Goethe's  Faust,  Schiller's  and  Lessing's 
works,  which  Paula  had  so  often  urgently  recommended 
me  to  read,  and  into  which  I  had  as  yet  hardly  looked. 
They  had  done  all  they  could  to  make  my  prison  as  endura- 
ble, as  pleasant  as  possible  ;  but  did  not  the  very  pains  they 
took  show  that  it  was  a  prison,  and  that  the  episode  of  my 
apparent  freedom  was  at  an  end.  Yes,  they  had  been  kind, 
inexpressibly  kind  to  me,  under  the  friendly  smiling  mask  of 
Samaritan  compassion  to  one  sick  unto  death — a  mask  that 
must  be  laid  aside,  as  soon  as  a  Pharisee  passed  that  way 
and  looked  askance  upon  the  moving  sight.  No,  no  ;  I  was 
and  remained  a  prisoner,  whether  my  chains  were  decked 
with  roses  or  not. 

Why  had  I  not  been  able  to  break  these  chains  ?  True, 
as  I  had  begun,  it  was  impossible ;  but  why  did  I  begin  so 
clumsily  "i  Why  did  I  not  keep  to  myself,  calmly  trusting  in 
my  own  strength  and  my  own  craft,  and  in  some  lucky  chance 
that  must  have  offered  sooner  or  later  ?  Now,  as  things  had 
happened,  after  I  had  incurred  such  a  debt  of  gratitude  to 
these  people,  after  I  had  grown  so  attached  to  them,  I  was 
twice  and  thrice  a  prisoner.  For  the  tempting  pottage  of 
friendship  and  love,  I  had  bartered  the  first  inalienable  birth- 
right of  man,  which  is  the  very  breath  of  his  soul — the  right 
of  liberty.     Seven  years  !     Seven  long,  long  years  ! 

I  strode  up  and  down  my  cell.  For  the  first  time  since 
my  sickness  I  felt  something  of  my  former  strength  ;  it  was 
but  a  remnant,  but  enough  to  bring  back  a  part  of  my  old 
roving  humor,  of  my  old  restlessness.  How  would  it  be  then 
when  I  felt  myself  all  that  I  had  ever  been  ?  Would  it  not, 
combined  with  the  knowledge  that  nothing  held  me  but  my 
own  will,  drive  me  to  frenzy  ?  Would  it. not  have  been  better 
if  they  had  left  me  in  my  old  slavery,  with  the  dream  that 
some  day  I  should  be  able  to  break  their  bonds,  even  if  this 
dream  was  never  verified  ? 

"  Here  is  a  young  man  who  wants  to  speak  with  us," 
announced  the  sergeant.     Since  my  sickness  when  "  we  "  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  269 

come  through  so  much  together,  he  frequently  used  in  speak- 
ing to  me  the  same  plural  which  he  employed  with  all  who, 
in  his  opinion,  had  acquired  an  entire  claim  on  his  honest 
heart ;  for  example,  the  superintendent  and  all  his  family, 
including  the  doctor,  and  now  myself. 

"  What  sort  of  a  man  !  "  I  asked,  while  a  joyous  shiver 
ran  through  me.  As  long  as  I  had  been  in  confinement  this 
was  the  first  time  that  any  one  had  come  to  see  me  ;  and 
somehow  I  connected  the  extraordinary  event  of  a  visitor 
with  the  thoughts  that  had  been  passing  through  my  mind. 

"  Looks  like  a  sailor,"  answered  the  sergeant.  "  Says  he 
has  news  of  our  dead  brother." 

This  sounded  extremely  improbable.  My  brother  Fritz 
had  been  dead  for  five  years ;  he  had  fallen  from  the  fore- 
yard  overboard  one  stormy  night,  and  was  drowned.  The 
ship  had  returned  in  safety ;  there  was  no  mystery  of  any 
sort  connected  with  his  death ;  and  if  any  one  now  brought 
me  intelligence  of  his  end,  there  must  be  some  other  purpose 
involved  with  it. 

"  Can  I  speak  with  him,  Sussmilch  ? "  I  asked,  in  the 
most  indifferent  tone  I  could  assume,  while  my  heart  seemed 
to  rise  in  my  throat. 

*'  We  can  speak  to  whom  we  like." 

"  Then  let  him  in  ;  and,  Siissmilch,  if  he  is  a  sailor  he 
would  like  a  glass  of  something ;  perhaps  you  could  get  me 
something  of  the  kind  ? " 

What  superfluous  trouble  a  man  with  an  evil  conscience 
gives  himself  and  others !  I  must  needs  lie,  always  a  trial 
to  me,  to  get  the  old  man  out  of  the  way  ;  and  the  honest 
Sussmilch,  who  had  not  a  thought  of  being  present  at  my 
interview  with  the  stranger,  had  to  go  down  two  flights  of 
stairs  into  the  cellar. 

"  But  we  mustn't  touch  a  drop  ourselves,"  said  the  old 
man,  warningly. 

"Have  no  fear." 

He  went,  after  first  introducing  the  visitor — a  broad-shoul- 
dered deeply-bronzed  man  in  sailor  dress  who  was  an 
entire  stranger  to  me. 


270  Hammer  and  Anvil. 


CHAPTER    VI  I. 

I  GAZED  in  mute  astonishment  at  the  stranger,  whose 
looks  and  manner  were,  to  use  the  mildest  expression, 
very  singular  ;  but  was  really  frightened  when  he,  so 
soon  as  the  door  had  closed  behind  the  sergeant,  without  a 
word  and  with  the  haste  of  a  man  completely  out  of  his 
senses,  but  still  with  the  dexterity  of  a  clown  in  a  circus, 
began  to  tear  off  his  clothes,  and  to  my  utter  amazement  ap- 
peared in  precisely  the  same  dress  as  that  which  now  lay  in 
its  various  elements  at  his  feet,  while  a  triumphant  smile  dis- 
closed two  rows  of  the  whitest  teeth  in  the  world. 

"  Klaus  !  "  I  exclaimed,  in  joyous  amazement. 

The  white  teeth  were  now  visible  to  the  very  last  grinder. 
He  seized  both  my  extended  hands,  but  remembered  at  once 
that  such  friendly  manifestations  did  not  belong  to  his  part, 
and  hurriedly  whispered  : 

"  Into  them,  quick  !  They  will  fit — folds  will  open  out  of 
themselves — only  quick  before  he  comes  back  ! " 

"  And  you,  Klaus  ?  " 

"I  stay  here." 

"  In  my  place .''  "  i 

"  Yes." 

"  But  they  will  find  it  out  in  five  minutes." 

"  Still  you  have  time  to  get  out ;  and  getting  out  and  get- 
ting off  is  one  and  the  same  thing  to  you." 

"  And  do  you  suppose  that  you  can  do  such  a  thing  with- 
out being  punished  ?  " 

"  At  the  worst,  they  can  but  shut  me  up  in  your  place,  and 
that  will  not  be  for  long.  With  the  locks  I  can  easily  deal, 
and  here" — he  showed  me  a  watch-spring-saw,  which  he  drew 
out  of  his  thick  hair  —  "with  this  I  will  cut  that  grating 
through  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

"Klaus,  all  that  cannot  have  come  out  of  your  own 
head." 

"  No,  out  of  Christel's ;  but  I  beg  you  make  haste." 

I  kicked  the  sailor-dress,  which  still  lay  upon  the  floor, 
under  the  bed,  for  I  heard  the  sergeant  coming  along  the 
corridor.  He  knocked  at  the  door,  and  when  I  opened  it, 
handed  me  a  bottle  of  brandy  and  a  glass. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  271 

"  But  we  are  no  bear,  and  won't  drink  a  drop  ourselves, 
will  we  ?" 

Klaus  stared  in  astonishment  when  he  saw  the  dreaded 
keeper  turned  into  so  obliging  an  attendant. 

I  closed  the  door  again,  and  then  fell  on  the  good  fellow's 
neck.     The  tears  stood  in  my  eyes. 

"  Dear,  good  Klaus,"  I  cried,  "  you  and  Christel  are  the 
kindest  hearts  in  the  world,  but  I  cannot  accept  your  gen- 
erous offer.  I  would  not  have  accepted  it  under  any  circum- 
stances ;  and  as  it  is,  it  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  I  could  go 
away  from  here  at  an}'  moment,  but  I  will  not,  Klaus,  I  will 
not." 

Here  I  embraced  Klaus  again,  and  gave  free  course  to 
the  tears  which  I  had  been  repressing.  I  felt  as  if  now  for 
the  first  time  I  knew  what  a  prisoner  was,  since  I  had  de- 
clared that  I  wished  to  be  one,  and  thus  made  myself  one 
of  my  own  choice.  Klaus,  who  naturally  had  no  concep- 
tion of  what  was  passing  within  me,  constantly  endeavored, 
while  casting  uneasy  glances  at  the  door,  to  persuade  me  to 
let  him  take  my  place  ;  he  would  wager  his  head  that  he 
would  be  out  in  twenty-four  hours. 

"  Klaus,  Klaus !"  I  cried,  clapping  him  on  the  plump 
cheeks,  "you  want  to  deceive  me.  Confess  now,  you  have 
no  expectation  of  getting  out  so  soon." 

"  Well,  anyhow,"  he  answered,  very  shame-facedly,  "  my 
wife  thought " 

"  Your  wife,  Klaus  !  your  wife !" 

"  We  have  been  married  these  two  months." 

I  thrust  Klaus  into  the  easy-chair,  sat  down  before  him, 
and  begged  him  to  tell  me  everything.  It  would  be  the 
greatest  kindness  he  could  do  me,  I  said,  if  he  could  tell  me 
that  all  was  going  well  with  him ;  that  I  was  by  no  means  in 
so  evil  a  straight  as  he  imagined  in  his  true  heart  of  friend- 
ship ;  and  I  gave  him  in  brief  words  a  sketch  of  my  adven- 
tures in  the  prison,  my  attempt  to  escape,  my  illness,  and  my 
friendly  relations  with  the  superintendent  and  his  family. 

"  You  see,"  I  concluded,  "  that  in  every  sense  I  am  well 
taken  care  of ;  and  now  I  must  know  how  things  have  gone 
with  you  and  Christel,  and  how  you  managed  so  soon  to  be- 
come man  and  wife.  Only  twenty-two,  Klaus,  and  married 
already  !     How  do  you  expect  to  get  on  ?     And  your  Chris- 


2  "J  2  Hammer  and  Afn'il. 

tel  has  let  you  come  away?  Klaus,  Klaus,  I  don't  like  the 
look  of  that." 

I  laughed  at  him,  and  Klaus,  who  now  at  last  perceived 
that  nothing  could  come  of  his  plan  to  rescue  me,  laughed 
also,  but  not  very  heartily. 

"  There  it  is,"  said  he.  "  How  will  she  look  when  I  come 
back  without  you.-"  " 

"  '  Without  thei\'  *  I  said,  Klaus.  I  am  not  going  to  put 
up  with  any  breach  of  our  old  brotherhood  now,  or  I  shall 
think  you  too  proud  to  be  on  terms  of  thee  and  thou  with 
a  prisoner.  And  how  will  she  look  when  you  come  back 
without  me  ?  " 

"  There  it  is,"  said  Klaus,  "  how  will  she,  indeed  !  We 
are  so  happy ;  but  one  or  the  other  of  us  was  always  saying, 
'  and  he  is  shut  up  there  !  '  and  then  there  was  an  end  of  all 
our  happiness,  especially  because  in  a  manner  it  is  Christel's 
fault  that  you  are  here ;  for  that  morning  at  Zanowitz " 

"  Klaus,"  I  interrupted  him,  "  do  you  know  then  that  for 
a  while  I  believed  that  Christel  herself  gave  the  information 
to  get  rid  of  your  father  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Klaus,  "  she  did  not  do  that,  thank  God  ; 
though  more  than  once  she  was  quite  desperate  and  thought 
of  killing  herself" 

He  wiped  his  forehead  with  his  hand  ;  I  had  touched  a 
painful  subject.  We  sat  awhile  without  speaking,  when 
Klaus  commenced  again  : 

"  One  good  result  it  has  had  :  '  he  '  " — Klaus  had  already 
adopted  Christel's  habit  of  never  calling  '  him  '  by  his  name 
— " '  he  '  of  course  had  to  give  up  the  guardianship  of  Christel, 
and  as  a  person  of  damaged  reputation,  could  not  interfere 
much  with  me.  Aunt  Julchen  in  Zanowitz,  with  whom 
Christel  stayed  after  that  day,  fitted  Christel  out,  and  we 
might  have  lived  like  angels,  if — "  and  Klaus,  with  a  mel- 
ancholy look  at  me,  shook  his  big  head. 

"  And  you  are  still  in  Berlin,  in  the  commerzienrath's  ma- 
chine-shops ?  "  I  asked,  to  give  his  thoughts  another  direction. 

"  Of  course,"  he  said,  "  I  have  been  promoted  already  ;  I 
am  now  foreman  in  my  shop." 

*  From  this  point  the  conversation  is  continued  in  the  familiar  second  person, 
which  does  not  convey  tlie  same  association  in  English,  and  is  therefore  not 
adopted  in  the  translation. — Tr. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  273 

'*  And  you  earn  plenty  of  money  ?  " 

"  So  much  that  we  don't  know  what  to  do  with  it." 

"  Your  Christel  is  an  excellent  housekeeper " 

"  And  washes  and  irons  to  that  extent  that  our  whole 
house  smells  of  nothing  but  soap  and  flat-irons." 

Klaus  showed  his  teeth ;  I  pressed  his  hand  in  token  of 
sympathy  with  his  happiness,  though  I  had  never  been  espe- 
cially ravished  by  the  perfumes  he  so  highly  prized  ;  but 
now  more  urgently  than  ever  I  desired  to  know  how  this 
happy  young  pair  ever  made  up  their  minds  so  cruelly  to 
risk  their  good  fortune. 

"  I  told  you  already,"  answered  Klaus,  "  that  we  never 
were  quite  happy.  Wherever  we  went  or  stood,  and  above 
all  when  we  were  in  real  good  humor  about  anything,  the 
thought  always  came  up :  if  he  could  only  be  here  !  And 
four  weeks  ago  yesterday,  when  we  had  some  Bierkaltschale* 
— no,  no,  we  could  stand  it  no  longer." 

"  Some  Bierkaltschale  ?  "  I  asked,  in  some  surprise. 

"  Yes  ;  don't  you  know  how  you  always  used  to  have  some 
made  for  you  at  the  forge,  in  the  summer-time,  when  you 
wanted  to  give  yourself  a  treat  ?  Christel  often  made  it  for 
you.  Well,  then,  just  four  weeks  ago  we  were  drinking  some 
— they  have  an  excellent  beer  for  it  in  Berlin,  much  better 
than  ours,  that  was  always  a  little  bitter — and  I  was  enjoying 
it,  when  Christel  on  a  sudden  let  the  ladle  fall  and  began  to 
howl,  and  I  knew  at  once  what  she  was  thinking  of,  and  then 
I  began,  and  we  kept  on  drinking  and  howling,  and  when 
we  had  finished,  we  both  said  together  :  It  can't  go  on  this 
way  !     So  then  we  put  our  heads  together " 

"  As  you  did  that  evening  when  I  met  you  on  the  heath  ?  " 

"  And  contrived  apian  at  last,"  continued  Klaus,  who  would 
have  turned  red  at  my  indiscreet  remark,  had  the  color  of 
his  complexion  allowed  it,  "  that  is  to  say,  Christel  contrived 
it.  She  had  read  just  such  a  story,  only  the  prisoner  was  a 
king's  son,  and  his  deliverer  was  a  knight,  who  disguised 
himself  as  a  priest — of  course  that  wouldn't  do,  but  a  sailor 
would  do,  Christel  said,  for  here  in  the  workhouse  there  was 
sure  to  be  many  a  tarpaulin,  and  of  course  there  would  be 
some  coming  to  see  them.     And  anyhow,  Christel  said,  a 

*  "  Bierkaltschale,"  a  beverage  composed  of  beer,  sweetened  with  fruit  sliced 
into  it. — Tr. 

12*  .       . 


2  74  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

sailor's  dress  was  the  best  disguise  in  a  sea-port.     So  we 

practised  the  whole  thing " 

"  You  practised  it  ?  " 


« ' 


To  be  sure  \  it  wasn't  so  easy  ;  we  went  through  it  every 
night  for  a  week  when  I  came  home  from  work,  until  Christel 
said  at  last  she  thought  it  would  do  at  a  pinch." 

"  It  went  capitally,  Klaus  !  " 

"  Yes,  but  what  good  has  it  done  ?  "  asked  Klaus,  with  a 
regretful  look  at  the  bed  under  which  the  disguise  was  lying, 
"  when  I  had  my  ears  bored  to  put  these  rings  in  ?  and  when 
Christel  every  morning  rubbed  my  face  with  bacon " 

"  With  bacon  ?  " 

"  I  must  look  like  a  sailor  from  the  other  side,  Christel  said, 
and  for  that  there  is  nothing  so  good  as  to  rub  your  face  with 
bacon  and  then  scorch  it  at  a  furnace." 

"You  look  like  a  mulatto,  Klaus."  '  ' 

"  So  Christel  said  ;  but  what  good  would  it  do  if  I  looked 
like  a  negro,  when  you  won't  come  out  ?  " 

"  It  does  this  good,  Klaus,"  I  cried,  catching  the  faithful 
fellow  round  the  neck,  "  that  you  two  have  given  me  one  of 
the  happiest  moments  of  my  life,  and  which  I  should  not 
have  had  had  I  taken  your  generous  offer.  God  bless  you 
both  for  your  love  to  me  ;  and  when  I  am  free  again  and  am 
a  rich  man,  I  will  repay  it  with  interest.  And  now,  my  dear 
good  fellow,  you  must  go  ;  I  have  to  go  and  see  the  super- 
intendent. And  do  you  hear,  Klaus,  you  go  right  back  with- 
out wasting  a  minute.  And  one  thing  more  :  if  your  eldest 
is  a  boy " 

"  He  is  to  be  named  George  ;  we  settled  that  some  time 
ago,"  said  Klaus,  showing  his  very  farthest  grinders. 

I  put  Klaus  out  of  the  door,  and  was  pacing  up  and  down 
the  room,  somewhat  agitated  by  what  had  just  passed,  when 
I  bethought  me  of  the  disguise  which  I  had  pushed  under 
the  bed,  and  which,  in  our  excitement,  we  had  quite  forgot- 
ten. I  now  drew  it  out,  and  could  not  resist  the  temptation 
to  try  on  the  jacket  of  rough  cloth.  It  was  as  Klaus  had 
said.  In  the  sleeves,  the  back,  and  the  skirts,  there  were 
folds  so  dexterously  made  and  caught  with  stitches,  that 
I  had  only  to  give  a  smart  pull  and  they  came  out ;  and  al- 
though I  was  a  head  taller  and  six  inches  wider  across  the 
shoulders  than  Klaus,  the  garment  fitted  me  as  if  it  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  275 

been  made  for  me.  So  was  it  with  the  waistcoat  and  the 
trousers  :  all  were  so  accurately  made  that — now  that  my 
illness  had  left  me  much  thinner  than  I  had  been — I  could 
very  conveniently  put  them  on  over  the  clothes  I  was  wearing. 

Just  as  I  had  finished  doing  so,  some  one  knocked  at  the 
door.  It  could  only  be  the  sergeant  or  the  superintendent, 
who  usually  came  at  this  hour.  I  seated  myself  at  the  table 
with  my  back  to  the  door  and  called,  "  Come  in !" 

It  was  the  sergeant. 

He  thrust  in  his  head  and  began  :   "  We  are  to  go  to  the 

captain   at   eleven   o'clock   to-day,   because "  here   he 

checked  himself,  as  it  looked  odd  that  the  strange  sailor  sat 
there  so  still  and  I  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  He  came  into 
the  room  and  asked  :  "  Where  are  we,  then  ?" 

"  Gone  to  the  devil  !"  I  answered  without  turning  round, 
imitating  as  well  as  I  could  the  broad  Plattdeutsch  which 
Klaus  had  used  as  a  part  of  his  stratagem. 

"No  stupid  jokes  !"  said  the  old  man. 

"  And  now  it  is  my  turn  !"  I  cried,  rushing  past  the  aston- 
ished sergeant  out  at  the  door,  which  I  flung  to,  and  turned 
the  key. 

There  lay  the  long  corridor  before  me  :  not  a  soul  was  to 
be  seen.  It  was  an  easy  thing  to  run  down  the  steps  and 
into  the  house-yard,  and  from  this  by  a  side-gate  which  I 
knew  was  never  closed  at  this  hour,  to  get  into  the  adjoining 
alley.  To  find  out  Klaus's  lodging  would  be  an  easy  matter; 
probably  I  should  reach  it  before  him — in  ten  minutes  we 
could  be  out  of  the  town,  and 

"  Good  morning,  Herr  Sttssmilch,  how  are  we  ?'M  asked, 
opening  the  door  again. 

The  sergeant  was  standing  just  where  I  had  left  him ;  and 
to  judge  from  the  confounded  look  of  his  honest  face,  had 
not  been  able  to  comprehend  what  it  all  meant.  I  pulled 
off  the  broad-brimmed  hat,  made  him  a  low  bow  with  a 
scrape  of  the  right  foot,  and  said  :  "  Have  the  honor  to 
place  myself  again  under  your  worshipful  charge." 

"  After  that,  one  can  take  a  toothpick  for  a  barn  door  !" 
exclaimed  the  old  man,  who  began  now  to  get  a  glimmering 
of  the  real  state  of  the  case.  "  That  codfish  of  a  smoke-dried 
flounder  !  Isn't  it  enough  to  turn  a  body  into  a  bear  with 
seven  senses .-"' 


276  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Hush !"  I  cried,  "  I  hear  the  doctor  coming.  Not  a 
word,  my  good  SQssmilch !"  and  I  pushed  the  old  man  out 
of  the  door,  by  which  Doctor  Snellius  entered  in  his  usual 
hasty  fashion,  with  his  hat  in  his  hand. 

He  started  when  he  saw  me,  gave  a  glance  round  the 
room,  looked  at  me  again,  and  went  out  without  saying  a 
word. 

I  pulled  off  my  sailor-dress  in  a  moment,  thrust  it  under 
the  bed,  and  called  after  him  in  my  natural  voice : 

"  Why  do  you  go  away,  doctor  ?"  I 

He  turned  back  instantly,  came  into  the  room,  sat  down 
upon  a  chair  in  front  of  me,  and  stared  steadily  at  me 
through  his  round  spectacles.  I  fancied  he  looked  paler  ; 
and  feared  that  perhaps  I  had  carried  the  jest  too  far,  and 
offended  my  irascible  friend.  , 

"  Doctor "  I  began. 

"  Something  very  singular  has  just  happened  to  me,"  he 
interrupted  me,  always  with  the  same  fixed  look. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  doctor  ?"  I  inquired,  startled  at  his 
looks  and  the  unaccustomed  gentleness  of  his  tone. 

"  Nothing  at  this  moment ;  but  I  have  just  been  the  sub- 
ject of  a  most  remarkable  hallucination." 

"  Of  what,  did  you  say  .-■  " 

A  hallucination.  A  complete  and  perfect  hallucination. 
When  I  first  entered  your  chamber,  my  friend,  I  saw,  stand- 
ing before  me,  a  sailor  of  just  your  height,  or  possibly  an  inch 
or  an  inch  and  a  half  shorter,  but  of  your  breadth  across  the 
shoulders,  in  a  rough  sailor  jacket,  gray  trousers,  wide  straw- 
hat  like  the  traders  to  the  West  Indies  wear  ;  with  exactly — 
no,  not  exactly,  but  very  nearly  your  features.  I  saw  the 
figure  as  plainly  as  I  see  you  at  this  moment — it  could  not 
have  been  more  distinct.  The  illusion  was  so  perfect  that 
I  supposed  they  had  put  you  in  another  room,  and  went  to 
ask  Sussmilch  what  he  meant  by  giving  our  healthiest  room 
to  the  first  comer.  Do  not  smile,  my  friend  ;  it  is  no  laughing 
matter — at  least  for  me.  It  is  the  first  time  that  anything 
of  the  kind  has  happened  to  me,  though  my  frequent  con- 
gestions of  the  head  might  have  prepared  me  to  expect  it, 
I  know  that  I  shall  die  of  apoplexy  ;  and  even  if  I  had  not 
known  it  before,  I  should  know  it  now." 

He  took  out  his  watch  and  examined  his  pulse. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  277 

*'  Strange  to  say,  my  pulse  is  perfectly  normal ;  and  all 
this  morning  I  have  felt  unusually  well  and  cheerful." 

"  My  dear  doctor,"  I  said,  "  who  knows  what  you  saw  ? 
You  learned  men  have  such  singular  notions,  and  out  of  the 
merest  gnat  you  will  make  a  scientific  elephant." 

"  Scientific  elephant  is  good,"  said  the  doctor  ;  "  nobody 
would  have  expected  such  an  expression  from  an  unscientific 
mammoth  like  you  —  very  good  !  but  you  are  mistaken. 
That  may  apply  to  others,  but  not  to  me.  I  observe  too 
coolly  to  commit  gross  blunders.  I  have  told  you  already 
that  my  pulse  is  normal,  exactly  normal,  and  all  my  functions 
in  perfect  order  ;  therefore  the  thing  must  have  a  deeper 
psychological  cause,  which  just  now  escapes  my  perceptions  ; 
for  the  psychological  cause " 

"  Then  at  all  events  you  have  a  psychological  cause,"  said 
I,  who  was  mischievous  enough  to  be  delighted  at  the  serious 
scruples  of  my  learned  friend. 

"  I  have  ;  and  I  will  tell  it  to  you,  even  at  the  risk  of  more 
of  your  malicious  grins.  I  was  dreaming  all  night  long  of 
you,  you  mammoth,  and  always  the  same  dream,  though  in 
different  forms,  namely,  that  you  either  were  escaping,  or  had 
escaped,  or  were  about  to  escape  from  here.  Sometimes 
you  were  lowering  yourself  by  a  rope  from  the  window,  or 
clambering  over  the  roofs,  or  leaping  down  from  the  wall,  or 
any  other  neck-breaking  trick  that  one  might  expect  from  a 
fellow  of  your  physical  and  moral  peculiarities  ;  and  you  were 
every  time  in  a  different  dress,  now  a  chimney-sweep,  now  a 
mason,  a  rope-dancer,  and  so  forth.  As  soon  as  I  awaked, 
I  asked  myself  what  this  dream  could  mean,  and  I  said  to 
myself — True,  George  Hartwig  is  now  again  in  his  prison, 
but  the  exceptional  position  in  which  he  stands  still  continues, 
and  so  does  the  danger  for  our  valued  friend  the  superintendent, 
which  lies  in  an  arrangement  which  we  must  acknowledge  to 
be  not  merely  irregular,  but  contrary  to  the  rules.  For  every 
creature  is  only  content  in  the  element  to  which  it  is  born. 
The  frog  would  spring  from  a  golden  chair  into  his  native 
swamp  ;  and  the  bird  escapes  when  he  can,  though  you  cram 
his  cage  with  sugar.  Will  it  not  be  so  with  this  youth,  who 
of  all  men  must  most  long  for  liberty  ?  May  he  not  in  a 
moment  of  weakness  forget  what  consideration  he  owes  to 
Herr  von  Zehren,  that  the  latter  to  a  certain  extent  risks  his 


2  78  Hammer  mid  Anvil.  I 

position  on  his  account,  and  in  this  moment  of  weakness  and 
forgetfulness  make  his  escape  ?  And  do  you  know,  young 
mammoth,  I  determined  that,  as  I  also  had  some  claim  upon 
you,  I  would  privately  and  in  all  friendship  ask  you  to  give 
me  your  word  that  if  such  a  temptation  seizes  you,  you  will 
only  think  of  your  own  honor.  This  was  what  I  had  in  my 
mind  when  I  came  up  the  corridor,  and  I  was  in  some  degree 
undecided,  for  I  thought  he  will  have  taken  this  resolution 
already,  and  to  give  his  word  to  me  will  be  superfluous. 
But  now,  after  this  singular  projection  of  my  dream  into 
reality — a  memento  morito  me,  moreover—;-!  beg  you  earnestly 
to  give  me  your  word.     Hm,  hm,  hm  !  " 

I  had  ceased  to  laugh,  long  before  he  had  reached  this 
conclusion  ;  and  now,  while  the  worthy  doctor  tuned  down 
his  voice,  extended  him  my  hand,  and  said  with  emotion  : 

"  With  all  my  heart  I  give  you  my  word,  although  it  is  true 
that  I  have  given  it  to  myself,  and  that  not  ten  minutes  ago. 
And  as  for  the  hallucination,  you  may  make  your  mind  easy, 
doctor;  here  lies  your  memento  moriy 

With  these  words  I  pulled  out  the  sailor's  dress  from 
under  the  bed,  slipped  on  the  jacket,  and  put  on  the  hat,  to 
make  the  proof  more  convincing. 

"  So  you  did  really  think  of  escaping,  then  .''  "  said  the  doc- 
tor, adroitly  dropping  the  hallucination,  in  order  at  least  to 
preserve  the  dream. 

"  No,"  I  answered,  "  but  others  tempted  me,  and  I  strove 
with  them,  and  they  fled  leaving  this  garment  behind  them." 

"•Which  you  may  hang  as  a  votive  offering  on  the  temple- 
wall,"  replied  Doctor  Snellius,  thoughtfully  ;  "  for  though  I 
do  not  know  how  it  happened,  I  see  this  much,  that  you 
have  escaped  a  great  danger  ;  and  now — now  for  the  first 
time  you  belong  to  us." 

There  was  a  saying  in  the  prison  that  one  could  tell  a  lie 
to  any  one,  but  not  to  the  superintendent. 

Superintendent  von  Zehren  had  a  way  of  looking  at  the 
person  with  whom  he  was  speaking,  to  which  none  but  a 
front  of  brass  could  have  been  callous.  Not  that  one  could 
read  in  his  glance  the  endeavor  to  be  as  comprehensive  and 
as  penetrating  as  possible ;  his  eye  had  in  it  nothing  of  the 
spy  or  the  inquisitor  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  large  and  lim- 
pid as  the  eye  of  a  child,  and  just  in  this  lay  the  power 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  279 

which  few  men  could  resist.  As  he  sincerely  wished  well  to 
every  one  with  whom  he  spoke,  and  on  his  own  part  had 
nothing  to  conceal,  this  large,  clear,  dark  eye  rested  steadily 
upon  one,  with  the  gaze  of  the  sun-bright  gods,  who  do  not 
wink  like  weak  mortals  living  in  twilight  and  concealment. 

When,  with  this  look  fixed  upon  me,  he  asked  me  about 
the  man  whom  he  had  sent  to  me  that  morning,  I  told  him 
at  once  who  the  man  was,  and  what  was  his  object  in  coming. 
And  I  further  told  him  in  what  frame  of  mind  he  had  found 
me,  and  how  strong  the  temptation  had  been,  but  that,  even 
without  the  assistance  of  the  good  doctor,  I  had  conquered 
it,  I  might  venture  to  say,  at  once  and  for  ever. 

The  superintendent  listened  to  my  narrative  with  all  the 
signs  of  the  most  lively  interest.  When  I  ceased,  he  pressed 
my  hand,  and  then  turning  to  his  writing-table,  handed  me  a 
paper,  which  he  said  he  had  just  received,  and  which  he  de- 
sired me  to  read. 

The  paper  was  an  inquiry  from  the  president,  couched  in 
polite  but  very  decided  phraseology,  as  to  the  facts  referred 
to  in  a  certain  anonymous  charge  which  had  reached  him, 
and  the  superintendent  was  called  upon  at  once  to  put  an 
end  to  an  arrangement  which  compromised  his  position  and 
character,  and  to  treat  the  young  man  in  question  with  the 
severity  which  the  dignity  of  the  law,  of  the  judges,  and  his 
own,  alike  demanded. 

"  You  wish  to  know,"  said  the  superintendent,  as  I  laid 
down  the  paper  with  an  inquiring  look,  "  what  I  intend  to  do. 
Exactly  as  if  I  had  never  received  this.  I  do  not  desire  to 
know  whether  Doctor  Snellius,  whose  friendship  for  me  often 
gives  him  a  sharper  insight  in  matters  that  concern  me,  than 
I  have  myself,  was  playing  a  little  comedy  when  he  hurried 
you  off  so  abruptly  yesterday,  but  I  am  very  glad  it  so  hap- 
pened. For  it  would  have  wounded  my  pride  to  be  com- 
pelled to  sacrifice  you,  to  whom  I  am  so  much  attached,  to 
a  pitiful  bit  of  chicanery.  According  to  the  letter  of  the  law, 
they  are  right  in  insisting  that  a  prisoner  cannot  be  a  guest 
in  the  superintendent's  family ;  and  this  point  I  should  have 
had  to  yield  ;  but  beyond  this  I  am  fully  determined  not  to 
yield  a  single  step.  To  decide  in  what  kind  of  work  a  pris- 
oner shall  be  engaged,  and  how  he  shall  employ  his  hours  of 
recreation,  is  my  incontestable  right,  which  I  will  not  suffer 


28o  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

to  be  curtailed  by  a  hair's  breadth,  and  which  I  will  maintain 
through  all  the  tribunals,  even  though  it  should  be  brought 
before  the  king.  And  I  am  not  sorry  that  this  has  happened, 
since  it  gives  us  an  occasion  to  speak  of  our  mutual  relations, 
and  to  have  a  clear  understanding  of  the  way  we  shall  pursue 
in  future.  If  you  are  disposed  to  hear  what  I  think  on  the 
subject,  we  will  go  into  the  garden.  My  lungs  suffer  to-day 
from  the  confined  air  of  a  room." 

We  stepped  from  his  office  into  the  garden.  I  offered  him 
my  arm,  as  my  strength  was  now  sufficient  for  this  service, 
and  we  walked  in  silence  between  the  flower-beds,  from  which 
the  warm  south  wind  wafted  us  the  perfume  of  wallflowers 
and  mignonnette,  to  the  grateful  shade  of  the  plane-trees. 
The  superintendent  took  his  seat  upon  one  of  the  benches, 
motioned  to  me  to  place  myself  at  his  side,  and  after  a  silent 
glance  of  gratitude  at  the  leafy  crowns  of  the  noble  trees  that 
afforded  the  refreshing  coolness,  he  said  : 

"  If  we  are  to  believe  the  jurists,  by  whose  words  the  stu- 
dents everywhere  swear,  Punishment  is  the  right  of  Wrong. 
This  definition,  by  its  simplicity,  recommends  itself  to  the 
logicians  at  their  desks,  but  I  doubt  extremely  whether  the 
Founder  of  the  Faith  would  have  been  content  with  it.  He 
did  not  declare  that  to  be  stoned  was  the  right  of  the  guilty 
woman  ;  on  the  contrary,  by  summoning  him  who  was  with- 
out sin  to  cast  the  first  stone,  he  showed  that  under  the 
smooth  logical  surface  of  the  legal  code  there  lay  a  deeper 
principle,  which  only  reveals  itself  to  the  eye  that  can  see 
and  the  heart  that  can  feel.  To  such  an  eye  and  such  a 
heart  it  soon  is  clear  that  every  wrong  which  is  to  be  pun- 
ished in  order  that  it  may  have  its  right,  is,  if  not  always, 
almost  always,  a  wrong  at  second,  third,  or  hundredth  hand  ; 
and  thus  the  punishment  rarely  reaches  the  one  who  may 
have  deserved  it.  So  the  justest  judge,  whether  he  will  or 
not,  resembles  the  sanguinary  general  who  orders  every 
tenth  man  to  be  led  off  to  execution,  not  because  he  is  guil- 
tier than  the  other  nine,  but  because  he  is  the  tenth. 

"  But  this  is  not  apparent  to  the  logician,  who  smiles  with 
satisfaction  if  he  does  not  come  into  conflict  with  his  princi- 
ple of  Identity  and  his  principle  of  Contradiction ;  nor  to 
j  the  judge  who  has  before  him  but  an  isolated  fact,  torn  from 
■  its  connections,  and  who  has  to  give  judgment  when  he  has 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  281 

not  all  the  parts  in  his  hand,  not  to  mention  the  visible  and 
invisible  threads  upon  which  these  parts  are  necessarily 
strung.  They  both  are  like  the  crowd  which  judges  a  pic- 
ture by  its  effect  alone  ;  while  the  connoisseur  knows  how  it 
came  into  existence,  what  colors  the  painter  had  upon  his 
palette,  how  he  blended  them,  how  he  handled  his  brush, 
what  difficulties  he  encountered,  and  how  he  overcame  them, 
or  why  it  was  that  he  failed  of  his  aim.  And  as  the  only 
true  criticism  is  creative,  which  takes  the  secrets  of  art  as 
the  starting-point  of  its  judgment,  so  that  none  but  an  artist 
can  be  a  real  critic,  even  so  men's  actions  can  only  be  judged 
by  those  to  whom  the  old  wise  word  applies,  that  nothing 
human  is  alien  to  them,  because  they  have  experienced  in 
themselves  and  in  their  brethren  the  whole  misery  of  hu- 
manity. But  for  this  are  necessary,  as  I  said  before,  the 
feeling  heart  and  the  seeing  eye,  and  an  ample  opportunity 
for  training  and  using  both. 

"  Who  has  a  better  opportunity  for  this  purpose  than  the 
superintendent  of  a  prison  ?  He  and  the  physician,  when 
their  views  coincide  and  they  strive  together  towards  the  same 
ends,  alone  can  know  what  the  most  conscientious  judge  has 
no  means  of  learning,  how  the  man  whom  mankind  have 
thrust  out  from  among  them  for  a  time  or  forever,  became 
what  he  now  is ;  how,  born  thus,  and  of  such  parents, 
brought  up  in  such  associations,  he  acted  thus  and  not  oth- 
erwise at  such  a  critical  moment.  Then  when  the  superin- 
tendent, who  is  of  necessity  the  confessor  of  the  criminal, 
has  learned  his  life  in  all  its  details,  and  the  physician  has 
discovered  the  defects  with  which  he  has  suffered  for  years, 
when  they  consult  upon  his  case,  the  question  only  is  if  he 
can  be  helped  and  how ;  and  in  the  so-called  prison  they 
see,  respectively,  but  a  reformatory  and  an  infirmary.  For —  ^ 
and  this  is  a  point  of  infinite  importance,  which  physiology  | 
will  yet  compel  jurisprudence  to  acknowledge — nearly  all ' 
who  come  here  are  diseased  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of 
the  word ;  nearly  all  suffer  from  organic  defects,  and  in 
almost  every  case  the  brain  lacks  the  proper  volume  which  a 
normal  man  needs  for  normal  activity,  for  a  life  which  shall 
not  bring  him  into  conflict  with  the  law. 

"  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?     Almost  without  excep- 
tion they  are  children  of  want,  of  wretchedness,  of  moral 


282  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

and  physical  malformation,  the  Pariahs  of  Society  which  in 
its  brutal  egotism  sweeps  by  with  garments  gathered  up  for 
fear  of  defilement,  or  thrusts  them  away  with  cruel  violence 
from  its  path.  The  right  of  wrong !  Insolence  of  Phari- 
seeism !  A  time  will  come  when  this  invention  of  the  philos- 
/  ophers  will  be  placed  on  a  level  with  that  other  of  the  theolo- 
gians, that  death  is  the  atonement  for  sin,  and  men  will  thank 
God  that  at  last  they  have  awaked  from  the  night  of  igno- 
rance which  gave  birth  to  such  monsters. 

"  That  day  will  come,  but  not  so  soon.  | 

"  We  are  still  deeply  sunk  in  the  mire  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  no  man  can  yet  see  when  this  flood  of  blood  and  tears 
will  have  passed  away.  However  far  the  glances  of  a  few 
brighter  intellects  may  reach  into  the  coming  ages,  the  prog- 
ress of  humanity  is  unspeakably  slow.  Wherever  we  look 
abroad  into  our  own  time,  we  behold  the  unbeautiful  relics 
of  a  past  that  we  had  believed  to  be  overthrown  long  ago. 
Our  systems  of  government,  our  nobility,  our  religious  insti- 
tutions, our  official  arrangements,  the  organization  of  our 
armies,  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes — everywhere 
the  scarcely  hidden  relation  between  masters  and  slaves ; 
everjrwhere  the  critical  choice  whether  we  will  be  hamnier  or 
anvil.  All  our  experience,  all  our  observation  seems  to 
prove  that  there  is  no  third  alternative.  And  yet  no  greater 
misconception  of  the  real  state  of  the  case  is  possible.  Not 
hammer  or  anvil,  hammer  and  anvil  is  the  true  word,  for 
every  man  is  both,  and  both  at  once,  in  every  moment  of  his 
life.  With  the  same  force  with  which  the  hammer  strikes 
the  anvil,  the  anvil  strikes  the  hammer  ;  the  ball  is  thrown 
off  from  the  wall  at  the  same  angle  under  which  it  impinges 
upon  it ;  the  elements  which  the  plant  has  appropriated  in 
its  growth,  it  must  exactly  restore  in  its  decomposition — and 
so  throughout  all  nature.  But  if  nature  unconsciously  obeys 
this  great  law  of  action  and  reaction,  and  is  thereby  a  cos- 
mos and  not  a  chaos,  then  should  man,  whose  existence  is 
subordinated  to  precisely  the  same  law,  acquire  an  intelligent 
knowledge  of  it,  and  endeavor  intelligently  to  shape  his  life 
in  conformity  with  it ;  and  his  worth  increases  or  diminishes 
exactly  in  proportion  as  he  does  this  or  neglects  it.  For 
though  the  law  remains  the  same,  whether  the  man  knows  it 
or  knows  it  not,  yet  for  himself  it  is  not  the  same.     Where 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  283 

it  is  known,  where  the  inseparableness,  the  unity  of  human 
interests,  the  inevitableness  of  action  and  reaction,  are  rec- 
ognized, there  bloom  freedom,  equity,  justice,  which  are  all 
but  varying  expressions  for  the  same  law.  Where  it  is  not 
known,  and  he  fancies  in  his  blindness  that  he  can  with  im- 
punity make  a  tool  of  his  fellow-man,  there  flourish  rankly 
slavery  and  tyranny,  superstition  and  priestcraft,  hatred  and 
contempt,  in  all  their  poisonous  luxuriance.  What  man 
would  not  naturally  wish  rather  to  be  hammer  than  anvil,  so 
long  as  he  believes  that  the  choice  lies  open  to  him  ?  But 
what  reasonable  man  will  not  cheerfully  renounce  the  part 
of  hammer,  when  he  has  learned  that  the  part  of  anvil  will 
not  and  cannot  be  spared  him,  and  that  every  blow  that  he 
gives  smites  also  his  own  cheek ;  that  the  serf  corrupts  the 
master  as  well  as  the  master  the  serf,  and  that  in  politics  the 
guardian  and  the  ward  are  rendered  equally  stupid.  Would 
that  the  consciousness  of  this  might  at  last  penetrate  to  the 
mind  of  the  German  peoples,  who  stand  so  sorely  in  need 
of  it ! 

"  So  sorely  in  need !  For  I  must  say  it  that  at  this  mo- 
ment, hardly  twenty  years  after  our  war  of  freedom,  that  fun- 
damental principle  of  human  existence  is  probably  by  no 
enlightened  nation  so  thoroughly  and  universally  ignored  as 
by  us  Germans,  fond  though  we  are  of  calling  ourselves  the 
intellectual  flower  of  the  nations,  the  people  of  thinkers. 
Where  is  the  young  plant  of  humanity  subjected  with  more 
intolerable  schoolmasterly  pedantry  to  a  too  early,  too  strict, 
and  incredibly  narrow  training  ?  Where  is  its  free,  beautiful 
development  more  systematically  hindered  and  maimed  than  it 
is  with  us  ?  The  shameful  wrongs  that  we  perpetrated  by  aid 
of  school-benches  and  church-benches,  the  drill-sergeant's 
stick,  the  Procrustes-bed  of  examination,  the  many-rounded 
ladder  of  official  hierarchy — to  think  of  them  sends  the 
blush  of  shame  to  the  cheeks  and  the  glow  of  indignation  to 
the  brow  of  those  who  can  perceive  it ;  it  is  justly  the  inex- 
haustible theme  of  derision  for  our  neighbors.  The  frenzy 
of  ruling,  the  slavish  desire  of  being  ruled,  these  are  the  two 
serpents  that  have  coiled  around  the  German  Hercules,  and 
are  crushing  him  ;  they  it  is  that  are  everywhere  impeding 
the  free  circulation,  and  producing  here  a  condition  of  hj'per- 
trophy,  and  there  of  atrophy,  that  cruelly  injure  the  body  of 


284  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  nation  ;  they  it  is  that,  injecting  their  venom  into  the 
veins  of  the  people,  poison  its  blood  and  marrow,  and 
degrade  the  race  itself ;  they  it  is,  finall)',  that  we  have  to 
thank  for  the  fact  that  our  penitentiaries  and  jails  can  no 
longer  contain  the  multitude  of  the  prisoners.  For  it  is  not 
an  exaggeration  if  I  say  that  nine  out  of  ten  that  come  here 
would  never  have  come  had  they  not  been  made  anvils  by 
force,  in  order  that  the  lords  of  the  hammer  might  have  some- 
thing to  vent  their  courage  on.  And  as  the  natural  right  of 
every  man  to  maintain  himself  in  the  way  most  suitable  to 
his  powers  and  capabilities  has  been  impeded  in  them  as 
much  as  possible  by  hindering  them  systematically  from  be- 
coming sound  strong  members  of  the  commonwealth,  they 
have  finally  been  brought  here  to  the  workhouse.  The 
workhouse  is  at  bottom  nothing  but  the  last  consequence  of 
our  conditions,  the  problem  of  our  life  reduced  to  its  sim- 
plest terms.  Here  they  must  accomplish  a  strictly  pre- 
scribed task  in  a  strictly  prescribed  manner  ;  but  when  were 
they  ever  allowed  freely  to  choose  their  work  ?  Here  they 
must  be  silent ;  but  when  were  they  ever  allowed  to  speak 
freely  ?  Here  they  must  pay  implicit  obedience  to  the  low- 
est overseer ;  but  without  having  read  Shakspeare,  do  they 
not  know  that  a  dog  in  office  is  obeyed  ?  Here  they  must 
walk,  stand,  lie  down,  sleep,  wake,  pray,  work,  idle,  at  the 
word  of  command ;  but  are  they  not  admirably  trained  for 
it  ? — are  they  not  all  born  workhouse  men  ?  My  heart  aches 
when  I  think  of  it  ;  yet  how  can  I  help  thinking  of  it  espe- 
cially at  this  moment  when  I  see  you  before  me,  and  ask  my- 
self: how  comes  this  youth  with  the  frame  of  a  strong  man, 
and  the  frank  blue  eyes  of  a  child,  in  this  abode  of  vice  and 
crime  ? 

"  My  dear  young  friend,  I  would  that  the  answer  were 
more  difficult.  Would  that  it  were  not  the  same  formula  by 
which  I  can  calculate  the  equation  of  your  life  also.  Would 
that  I  did  not  know  that  the  unnaturalness  of  our  relations 
is  like  a  poisonous  simoon  that  withers  the  grass  and  even 
strips  the  leaves  from  the  oak. 

"  I  have  endeavored  from  what  I  before  knew  of  you,  and 
from  what  you  so  frankly  have  confided  to  me  of  your  ear- 
lier life,  of  your  family  affairs,  of  the  life  and  customs  of 
the  citizens  of  your  native  town,  to  form  a  background  upon 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  285 

which  I  might  design  your  portrait.  And  how  cheerless  it 
is,  lying  in  the  dim  light  in  which  all  things  now  seem  to  lie 
with  us  !  Everywhere  littleness,  narrow-mindedness,  restric- 
tions, blind  adhesion  to  old  formulas,  pedantic  ceremonious* 
ness,  everywhere  the  free  outlook  into  life  shut  out  by  high 
walls  of  prejudice.  You  have  told  me  that  you  besought 
your  father  to  let  you  go  to  sea,  and  that  he  steadfastly  in- 
sisted that  you  should  be  a  man  of  learning,  or  at  least  fol- 
low an  official  career.  It  was  certainly  not,  as  you  accused 
yourself,  a  mere  inclination  to  idleness  or  a  hankering  after 
adventures  that  again  and  again  prompted  this  wish  ;  and 
assuredly  your  father,  whatever  his  reasons,  did  not  do  well 
so  obstinately  to  reject  it.  He  had  lost  one  son  at  sea — • 
very  well  ;  there  is  another  sea,  the  sea  of  happy,  active,  en- 
ergetic life,  in  which  all  faculties  have  their  free  play.  This 
he  should  not  have  forbidden  you ;  and  this  was  really  the 
sea  for  which  you  longed,  of  which  the  ocean  with  its  storms 
was  but  the  image,  though  you  took  it  for  the  reality. 

"  Your  father  did  not  do  well ;  yet  we  cannot  reckon  with 
him,  rendered  gloomy  by  domestic  misfortune,  too  soon  left 
alone  in  the  world,  and  irritated  by  his  son's  resistance.  But 
what  can  we  say  of  your  pedantic  teachers,  not  one  of  whom 
could  comprehend  a  youth  whose  character  is  openness 
itself  .-•  What  of  your  worthy  friends  who  raised  a  hue  and 
cry  over  the  profligate  who  was  leading  their  sons  into  mis- 
chief, and  who  held  it  a  devout  work  to  widen  the  breach 
between  father  and  son  ?  Many  an  honest  German  youth 
has  been  in  your  case,  my  friend  ;  brought  up  under  such 
desperately  stringent  social  restrictions,  that  he  thanks  heaven, 
when,  in  the  far  west  of  America,  under  the  trees  of  the  I 
primeval  forest,  he  hears  no  more  about  social  order.  True, 
in  your  flight  from  the  oppressive  narrowness  of  your  father's 
house,  you  did  not  get  so  far  as  the  American  forests,  but 
unhappily,  only  as  far  as  the  woods  of  the  Zehrenburg,  and 
this  filled  up  the  measure  of  your  misfortunes. 

"  For  there  you  met  with  one  towards  whom  you  must  have 
felt  yourself  drawn  by  an  irresistible  attraction,  as  his  nature 
in  many  points  had  a  wonderful  resemblance  to  your  own  ; 
one  whose  ruin  had  been  mainly  due  to  the  wretchedness  of 
our  social  relations,  and  who  had  made  a  wilderness  around  ; 
him  in  which  he  could  move  in  accordance  with  his  unfet- 


2 86  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

\  tered  will,  which  he  called  liberty.  A  wilderness  in  the 
moral  as  well  as  the  literal  sense ;  for  as  I  learn  from  what 
you  have  told  me  of  his  discourses,  and  as  the  result  has 
shown,  in  throwing  away  prejudice  he  also  cast  overboard 
judgment,  with  precaution,  discretion,  with  scrupulousness, 
consideration,  with  the  faults  of  the  German  character  the 
virtues  of  all ;  and  all  that  at  last  remained  to  him  were  his 
adventurous  spirit  and  a  kind  of  fantastic  magnanimity  which 
at  times,  as  you  have  yourself  experienced,  could  be  more 
fantastic  than  magnanimous. 

"  But  be  that  as  it  may,  he  was  a  man  with  whom  you 
were  at  once  struck,  because  he  was  the  exact  opposite  of 
all  men  whom  you  had  hitherto  met,  and  who  still  possessed 
chivalrous  qualities  enough  for  a  youth  so  inexperienced  to 
see  in  him  his  ideal.  And  then  the  free  life  upon  the  broad 
heaths,  the  lofty  cliffs,  the  far-reaching  shore — how  could  this 
do  other  than  intoxicate  and  confuse  a  brain  yet  clouded  with 
the  dust  of  the  school-room  ? 

"  But  this  freedom,  this  independence,  this  energetic  life, 
were  all  but  a  glittering  reflection,  the  Fata-Morgana  of  a 
Hesperian  shore,  which  was  destined  to  vanish,  leaving  be- 
hind a  guard-house  and  a  penitentiary. 

"To  make  this  prison  a  Hesperian  garden  to  you,  is  not 
in  my  power,  my  friend  ;  nor  would  I  do  it  if  it  were.  But 
one  thing  I  hope  to  effect,  and  that  is,  that  here,  where  the 
errors  that  warped  your  early  training  can  no  longer  reach 
you,  you  may  come  to  yourself,  learn  to  know  yourself,  your 
aims,  and  the  measure  of  your  powers — ^that  in  a  workhouse 
you  may  learn  how  to  work." 


-o- 


CHAPTERVIII. 

I  WILL  not  maintain  that  the  excellent  man  said  all  that 
I  have  put  into  his  mouth  in  the  last  chapter,  in  these 
identical  words,  or  upon  this  particular  morning.     It  is 
probable  that  I  have  thrown  into  connection  his  remarks  upon 
more  than  a  single  occasion,  and  perhaps  have  added  a  phrase 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  287 

or  a  figure  of  my  own.  But  hardly  more  than  this  ;  for  I 
too  deeply  absorbed  his  philosophy,  which  descended  upon 
my  thirsting  soul  like  the  fruitful  shower  upon  a  parched 
field ;  and  while  I  attempt  to  repeat  his  thoughts,  his  image 
stands  so  lively  in  my  memory,  that  I  fancy  I  hear  the  words 
issuing  from  his  lips. 

And  at  this  time  I  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  his  converse 
every  day  and  often  for  hours  at  a  time.  It  was  not  in  my 
power  to  keep  the  promise  I  had  made  to  Paula,  for  her 
father  did  not  wait  for  me  to  put  the  question  to  him.  I  had 
told  him  our  conversation,  however,  at  which  he  smiled. 

"  She  wants  to  make  a  learned  man  of  you,"  he  said.  "  I 
wish  to  make  nothing  of  you  ;  I  wish  you  to  become  what 
you  are  capable  of  becoming ;  and  to  find  out  your  capabili- 
ties we  must  experiment  a  little.  One  thing  is  certain  :  you 
can  become  a  first-rate  hand-worker.  You  have  shown  that 
already ;  and  I  am  well  satisfied  that  you  have  gone  through 
this  brief  course,  for  the  first  touches  of  the  artist  follow  the  \ 
last  of  the  craftsman,  and  it  is  well  that  he  should  under- 
stand the  handiwork  upon  which  his  art  rests  ;  not  only  be- 
cause only  thus  is  he  able  to  see  rightly  and  help  with  coun- 
sel and  hand  wherever  help  is  needed,  but  only  then  is  it 
truly  his  work,  and  belongs  to  him  as  a  child  to  a  parent — 
not  only  spirit  of  his  spirit,  but  also  flesh  of  his  flesh.  Then 
how  much  more  sharply  does  the  eye  see  where  the  hand  has 
been  busy  ?  Here  is  the  ground-plan  of  the  new  infirmary ; 
this  is  the  foundation  which  you  yourself  helped  to  clear  out, 
and  for  which  you  yourself  helped  to  bring  the  stones.  This 
wall  will  be  built  upon  that  foundation  ;  it  is  of  this  height 
and  this  thickness  ;  without  a  calculation  you  are  satisfied 
that  such  a  foundation  can  support  such  a  wall.  Do  you 
not  feel  a  pleasure  in  the  neat,  firm  drawing  in  which  a  sin- 
gle line  represents  the  work  of  an  hour,  or  perhaps  of  many 
days  ?  Paula  has  told  me  that  you  have  an  accurate  eye  and 
a  sure  hand.  I  need  copies  of  these  plans  :  would  you  like 
to  make  them  for  me  ?  It  is  work  suited  to  a  convalescent ; 
and  the  use  of  compass,  ruler,  and  drawing-pen,  I  can  show 
you  in  five  minutes." 

From  this  day  I  worked  in  the  superintendent's  office, 
copying  simple  outlines  or  the  design  of  a  front,  or  engross- 
ing specifications,  with  a  pleasure  which  I  had  never  imag- 


288  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

ined  could  accompany  work.  But  who  then  ever  had  such 
a  teacher — %o  kind,  so  wise,  so  patient,  who  so  well  knew 
how  to  lead  the  pupil  to  confidence  in  himself?  How  grate- 
ful to  me  was  his  praise  ;  and  how  I  stood  in  need  of  it.  I 
who  at  school  had  always  been  blamed  and  scolded,  who 
looked  on  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  my  work  was  worse 
than  that  of  any  of  the  others,  and  who  had  come  to  con- 
sider myself  as  destitute  of  all  capacity.  My  new  teacher 
taught  me  that  my  capacities  were  only  dormant,  and  that  I 
could  perfectly  well  understand  anything  that  I  thought  worth 
understanding.  Thus  I  had  resigned  myself  in  mathematics 
to  make  no  progress  beyond  the  first  rudiments,  and  now  to 
my  astonishment  I  discovered  that  these  uncouth  symbols 
and  crabbed  formulas  were  composed  of  simple  ideas  and 
figures,  and  constructed  with  a  logical  consequence  which  I 
had  no  difficulty  in  perceiving,  and  in  which  I  felt  inexpress- 
ible delight. 

"  It  is  singular,"  I  said  on  one  occasion,  "  that  when  I  was 
with  Herr  von  Zehren  I  thought  there  could  be  nothing  on 
earth  more  delightful  than  shooting  over  a  wide  heath  on  a 
sunny  autumn  morning ;  but  I  now  find  that  to  correctly 
employ  a  difiicult  formula  gives  more  pleasure  than  a  good 
shot  that  brings  down  an  unlucky  pheasant." 

"  The  whole  secret,"  replied  my  teacher,  "  lies  in  giving 
free  play  to  our  powers  and  our  talents  in  a  direction  which 
is  agreeable  to  our  own  nature.  For  in  this  manner  we  feel 
that  we  are ;  and  every  creature  at  every  moment  seeks  for 
nothing  further.  But  if  we  can  so  contrive  it  that  our  activ- 
ity, besides  giving  us  the  proof  of  our  existence,  turns  to 
the  advantage  of  others — and  happily  that  is  almost  always 
in  our  power — so  much  the  better  for  us.  Would  to  heaven 
my  unfortunate  brother  had  caught  a  sight  of  this  truth." 

Of  course,  especially  in  the  earlier  period  of  my  imprison- 
ment, our  conversation  frequently  turned  upon  "  the  Wild 
Zehren." 

"  As  a  boy  he  bore  that  name,"  said  the  superintendent ; 
" everybody  called  him  'the  Wild  One,'  and  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  give  him  another  name.  In  his  fiery  nature  lay 
an  impulse  that  he  could  not  resist,  to  put  forth  his  exuber- 
ant strength  even  to  excess,  to  venture  whatever  was  most 
hazardous,  and  to  attempt  even  the  impossible.     You  can 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  289 

judge  the  field  that  our  paternal  estate  offered  to  such  a  boy. 
To  dash  on  the  wildest  horses  down  the  steep  heights,  to 
put  out  to  sea  in  a  crazy  boat  during  a  raging  storm,  to  roam 
over  the  perilous  moors  by  night,  to  climb  the  giant  beeches 
of  the  park  to  bring  down  a  bird's  nest,  to  dive  into  the  tarn 
in  search  of  the  treasure  which  they  say  was  thrown  into  it 
in  the  time  of  the  Swedish  invasion — these  were  his  favorite 
sports.  I  have  no  idea  how  often  he  found  himself  in  danger 
of  death ;  but  in  truth  it  might  be  said  to  be  every  moment, 
for  at  any  moment  the  impulse  might  seize  him  to  do  some- 
thing which  put  his  life  in  peril.  Once  we  were  standing  at 
an  upper  window  and  saw  an  infuriated  bull  chasing  one  of 
the  laborers  around  the  court.  Malte  said,  '  I  must  take 
that  fellow  in  hand,'  sprang  down  twenty  feet  into  the  court 
as  another  might  arise  from  a  chair,  and  ran  to  meet  the  bull, 
whose  rage  had  however  spent  itself,  so  that  he  allowed  the 
daring  boy  to  drive  him  back  to  the  cattle-yard.  It  was  a 
mere  chance  here  that  he  did  not  break  his  bones  and  was 
not  gored ;  but  as  chance  always  stood  his  friend,  he  grew 
more  and  more  reckless  and  daring. 

"  Chance,  however,  is  a  capricious  deity,  and  unexpectedly 
leaves  its  greatest  favorites  in  the  lurch.  A  far  worse  en- 
emy to  my  brother  were  the  circumstances  in  which  he  grew 
up.  The  only  thing  he  had  been  taught,  was  that  the  Zeh- 
rens  were  the  oldest  race  on  the  island,  and  that  he  was  the 
first-born.  From  these  two  articles  of  faith  he  constructed 
a  sort  of  religfion  and  mystical  cultus  which  was  all  the  more 
fantastic  that  his  pompous  fancies  contrasted  so  glaringly 
with  the  threadbare  reality. 

"  Our  father  was  a  nobleman  of  the  old  lawless  school, 
and  of  the  wild  ways  of  his  class  in  the  eighteenth  century : 
a  man  of  all  men  least  fitted  to  form  the  character  of  a 
haughty,  audacious  boy  like  my  brother.  Our  mother  had 
lived  at  courts,  and  in  this  unwholesome  sphere  frittered 
away  her  really  remarkable  gifts.  She  yearned  for  the  van- 
ished splendors  of  her  former  life  ;  the  solitude  of  a  country 
life  wearied,  and  the  rudeness  with  which  she  was  surrounded, 
shocked  her.  Their  life  was  not  a  happy  one  :  as  she  knew 
she  was  no  longer  beloved  by  her  husband,  she  soon  ceased 
to  love  her  children,  in  whom  she  fancied — whether  rightly 
or  wrongly  is  of  no  consequence — that  she  perceived  only 
13 


290  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  traits  of  their  father.  Our  father's  regard  was  confined 
to  his  first-born  alone ;  and  when  a  wealthy,  childless  aunt 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  take  charge  of  the  second  son,  Ar- 
thur, he  willingly  consented.  Indeed  I  believe  he  would 
have  been  glad  to  be  rid  of  me  also,  the  youngest  son,  only 
no  one  was  willing  to  take  me.  Thus  I  grew  up  as  I  best 
could  j  sometimes  I  had  a  tutor  and  sometimes  I  had  none ; 
no  one  cared  for  me  ;  I  should  have  been  left  entirely  alone, 
had  not  my  eldest  brother,  after  his  fashion,  taken  me  under 
his  charge. 

"  He  loved  me,  who  was  ten  years  his  junior,  with  pas- 
sionate devotion^  with  a  wild,  and,  as  it  now  appears  to  me, 
a  touching  tenderness.  Strong  as  I  afterwards  grew,  I  was 
a  frail  and  sickly  child.  He,  the  dauntless,  shielded  me 
from  every  shadow  of  danger  ;  he  watched  and  guarded  me 
as  the  apple  of  his  eye ;  played  with  me,  when  I  was  well, 
for  half-days  at  a  time  ;  watched,  when  I  was  sick,  night 
after  night  by  my  bed.  I  was  the  only  one  who  could  con- 
trol *  the  Wild  One  '  with  a  word,  a  look  ;  but  what  could 
such  influence  avail }  It  was  a  thread  that  snapped,  when 
the  youth  of  twenty,  after  a  scene  of  unusual  violence  with 
our  father,  left  suddenly  the  paternal  house,  to  enter  it  no 
more  for  ten  years. 

"  He  was  sent  to  travel,  as  the  customary  phrase  then  ran  ; 
but  the  always  insufficient  remittances  which  he  received  from 
our  father,  whose  means  were  daily  diminishing,  soon  ceased 
altogether.  He  had  to  live  as  he  could  ;  and  as  he  could 
not  live  at  his  own  expense,  he  lived  at  the  expense  of  others, 
like  many  a  noble  adventurer,  to-day  a  beggar,  to-morrow 
rolling  in  gold  ;  to-day  the  comrade  of  the  lowest  rabble,  to- 
morrow the  companion  of  princes  ;  with  his  irresistible  power 
of  fascination,  conquering  all  hearts  wherever  he  came,  yet 
himself  fixed  nowhere,  and  roaming  restlessly  from  one  end 
of  Europe  to  the  other.  He  was  in  England,  Italy,  Spain, 
and  longest  in  France  ;  in  the  wild  life  of  Paris  he  found  his 
natural  element,  and  he  revelled  in  the  arms  of  French  ladies, 
whose  brothers  and  husbands  were  devastating  his  native 
land  with  fire  and  sword. 

"  For  five  or  six  years  we  had  heard  nothing  of  him ;  our 
mother  had  died,  and  we  had  not  known  where  to  send  him 
the  news  of  her  death  j  our  father,  broken  before  his  time, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  291 

was  tottering  to  his  grave  ;  the  devastation  of  our  estates  by 
the  enemy,  who  had  penetrated  even  to  us,  did  not  move  his 
apathy — he  drank  the  last  bottle  of  wine  in  his  cellar  in  a 
carouse  with  French  officers.  I  could  not  endure  all  this 
with  patience.  I  challenged  the  French  colonel,  a  Gascon, 
who,  seated  at  my  father's  table,  with  a  guitar  in  his  hands, 
was  singing  ribald  songs  insulting  to  the  Germans.  He 
laughed,  and  made  his  men  take  the  sword  from  the  boy  of 
seventeen — it  was  a  dress-sword  which  hung  on  the  wall  by 
a  blue  scarf  as  an  ornament,  and  which  I  had  snatched  in 
my  fury — to  punish  his  presumption  by  having  him  shot  the 
next  morning. 

"  In  the  night  appeared  a  deliverer  whom  I  had  least  reason 
to  expect.  At  the  rumors  of  an  uprising  in  Germany — at 
that  time  the  first  Frei  corps  was  organizing — the  Wild  One 
had  hurried  back  from  the  arms  of  his  paramours  and  the 
salons  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  and  his  way  had  led  him 
to  our  native  place,  where  just  then  the  flames  of  war  were 
most  fiercely  burning.  He  could  not  reach  the  Frei  ^orps^ 
which  was  in  the  citadel,  so  he  turned  to  the  island  with  the 
plan  of  stirring  up  a  guerrilla  warfare  against  the  invaders. 
He  came  just  at  the  right  moment  to  snatch  his  brother  from 
certain  death.  With  a  few  trusty  followers  hastily  collected, 
he  broke  into  the  prison  under  circumstances  of  the  most 
daring  audacity,  and  carried  me  away. 

"  From  this  time  we  were  together  for  five  years,  and  first 
as  simple  volunteers,  then  as  officers  of  the  line,  shared 
perils  and  hardships  like  brothers.  I  was  a  good  soldier, 
but  my  brother's  name  was  known  throughout  the  whole 
army,  and  again  he  was  called  '  the  Wild  Zehren,'  as  if  to 
such  a  man  that  was  the  only  fitting  epithet.  Innumerable 
were  the  stories  told  of  his  courage  and  foolhardiness.  The 
general  opinion  was  that  he  was  seeking  death  ;  but  he  was  j 
not  thinking  of  death — he  only  despised  life.  He  laughed ' 
when  he  heard  others  talking  enthusiastically  of  the  regene- 
ration of  Germany ;  how  we  would  rid  our  native  soil  both 
of  foreign  and  native  tyrants,  in  order  to  establish  a  king- 
dom of  fraternity  and  equality  in  the  liberated  land.  At 
that  time  he  often  had  the  old  phrase  of '  hammer  and  anvil ' 
on  his  lips,  which,  as  he  said,  expressed  his  philosophy  in 
the  simplest  terms.      '  Fraternity  !  equality  ! '  he  scoffed— 


292  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

*  away  with  such  empty  phrases  !  This  is  a  world  of  the 
strong  and  the  weak ;  of  masters  and  serfs.  You  have  so 
long  been  the  anvil  under  that  giant  hammer  Napoleon,  that 
now  you  want  to  play  hammer  yourselves.  See  how  far  you 
will  bring  it.  Not  far,  I  fear.  You  have  only  talents  for 
the  part  of  anvil.' 

"  *  Why  did  you  come  to  help  us  fight  Napoleon  ? '  I 
asked. 

"  '  Because  I  was  bored  in  Paris,'  was  his  reply. 

"  But  he  did  himself  injustice.  He  was  something  more 
than  the  blase  cavalier  of  fortune  which  he  pretended  to  be ; 
he  had  squandered  in  a  life  of  wild  adventures  the  treasures 
of  a  heart  dearer  than  Plutus'  mine  ;  but  a  fragment  of  this 
heart  was  yet  left  him,  and  in  this  fragment  lived — if  not 
genuine  patriotism  and  philanthropy,  at  least  the  generous 
impulse  to  side  with  the  oppressed  and  resist  the  oppressor, 
whether  he  be  a  brilliant  conquerer  or  a  stupid  native  prince 
ruling  by  the  grace  of  God.  •■  ! 

"  And  now  that  the  conquerer  was  chained  to  the  rock  of 
St.  Helena,  and  he  saw  the  heroes  of  so  many  battles  taking 
their  old  accustomed  yoke  once  more  upon  their  patient 
necks  ;  when  he  saw  that  the  whole  proud  torrent  of  liberty 
was  wasting  in  the  sand  of  loyal  obedience,  then  he  broke 
his  sword,  which  he  had  gloriously  carried  through  twenty 
battles,  bestowed  a  curse  upon  both  despots  and  slaves,  and 
said  that  now,  as  before  the  war,  the  world  was  his  home ; 
the  only  home  for  a  free-born  man  in  a  slavish  age. 

"  I  know  well  that  his  reasoning  was  strained  and  un- 
sound ;  but  there  was  a  kernel  of  truth  in  it.  The  result  has 
proven  this  ;  the  incredibly  vapid,  idealess  time  in  which  we 
live,  a  time  barren  of  thought  and  of  deeds,  a  real  age  of  the 
Epigoni,  has  completely  confirmed  his  prediction.  And  now 
again  he  wandered,  a  homeless  adventurer,  through  the  land, 
only  with  the  difference  that  before  with  insolent  power  he 
had  sported  with  men,  whom  he  now  coldly  preyed  upon  be- 
cause he  despised  them.  '  I  endeavored  to  purchase  with  . 
my  blood  a  letter  of  indulgence  for  my  past :  it  has  been 
refused  me.  What  now  is  the  present  or  the  future  to  me  ? ' 
How  often  have  I  thought  upon  this  expression  of  his  to 
me  at  the  moment  of  our  parting.  It  has  always  remained 
with  me  a  key  to  his  enigmatical  character. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  293 

"Again  for  years  I  heard  nothing  more  of  him.  Our 
father  was  dead  ;  our  estate  sequestered  ;  my  second  brother, 
Arthur,  whom  his  aunt  had  deceived  in  his  expectations,  was 
toiling  in  thankless  public  service  ;  I,  who  had  set  my  heart 
upon  the  regeneration  of  the  public,  and  thought  that  I 
could  see  that  the  work  must  be  begun  at  the  very  begin- 
ning, that  is,  at  the  bottom,  had  managed  to  obtain  this 
place  through  my  patron,  Altenburg ;  had  been  here,  a  crip- 
pled man,  for  four  years,  and  was  still  studying  the  rudi- 
ments of  my  vocation  ;  Malte  was  nowhere  heard  of.  Sud- 
denly he  reappeared,  and  with  a  wife  who  had  followed  the 
adventurer  to  his  home.  He  declared  his  intention  to  take 
the  paternal  estate  in  hand.  I  afforded  him  every  facility ; 
Arthur  sold  his  rights  for  a  sum  of  money,  the  receipt  of 
which,  by  the  way,  he  still  denies.  The  creditors  were  glad 
to  get  at  all  events  something,  and  one  of  them  at  least  con- 
soled himself  with  the  thought  that '  omittance  was  no  quit- 
tance,' and  the  hope — which  has  not  deceived  him — that  the 
2^hren  estates  were  as  secure  to  him  under  the  new  master 
as  under  the  old. 

"  We  did  not  meet  at  his  return  ;  just  at  that  time  I  could 
not  well  leave  this  place,  and  he,  on  his  part,  felt  no  desire  to 
renew  the  old  friendship.  When  we  parted,  I  was  about  to 
contract  a  marriage,  in  which  the  first-bom  of  an  ancient 
line  saw  a  criminal  z«ei-d!^/a«f<f/  now  for  some  years  I  had 
been  holding  an  official  post;  and  to  hold  any  post,  but 
especially  such  a  post  as  this,  was  in  his  eyes  throwing  one's 
self  away,  trampling  under  foot  the  inborn  right  of  a  knight 
of  the  hammer,  and  making  one's  self  a  plebeian  anviL 
That  I  refused  the  compensation  he  had  ofifered  me  for  my 
interest  in  the  estate,  wounded  him  deeply.  By  so  doing,  in 
his  eyes,  I  renounced  my  obedience  and  subordination  to  the 
first-born,  the  chief  of  the  family.  He  could  not  forgive  me 
that  I  had  no  more  need  of  him  ;  that  I  had  no  debts  which 
he  must  plunge  himself  into  debt  to  pay  ;  in  a  word,  that  I 
was  not  like  my  brother  Arthur,  who  was  much  more  com- 
pliant in  this  point — too  compliant,  I  fear. 

"  On  the  other  side,  what  I  heard  of  him — and  he  took 
care  never  to  let  men's  tongues  rest  about  him— confirmed 
me  in  the  sad  conviction  that  between  him  and  me  a  gulf 
had  opened,  not  to  be  crossed  by  even  the  sincere  love  I 


294  Hammer  and  Anvil.  - 

still  felt  for  him.  I  heard  of  the  wild  life  he  was  living  with 
the  noblemen  of  his  neighborhood,  now  impoverished  by  the 
war ;  of  the  drinking  and  gaming  bouts,  of  mad  exploits  of 
which  he  was  the  originator.  At  this  time  a  dark  rumor  got 
abroad  that  he  was  conducting  the  smuggling  traffic,  which 
during  the  war  had  flourished  greatly,  being  then  encouraged 
by  the  government,  but  now  was  strongly  repressed.  But 
the  worst  rumors  were  those  that  spoke  of  the  wretched  life 
he  led  with  his  unhappy  wife.  He  ill-treated  her,  it  was 
said  ;  he  had  imprisoned  her  in  a  cellar  ;  it  was  unaccounta- 
ble that  the  authorities  did  not  interfere. 

"  I  could  not  bear  to  hear  these  things,  of  which  I  did  not 
believe  a  word,  for  the  charges  were  in  too  glaringly  contra- 
diction to  the  naturally  noble  and  generous  nature  of  my 
brother.  But  I  felt  a  natural  hesitation  to  mix  myself  up  in 
these  affairs,  until  a  letter  which  I  received  brought  me  to  a 
decision.  The  letter  was  written  in  bad  French,  and  the 
very  first  words  informed  me  that  the  unhappy  woman  who 
wrote  it  must  be  out  of  her  right  mind.  *I  hear  you  know 
the  road  to  Spain,'  it  began,  and  ended  with  the  words,  *  I 
entreat  you  to  tell  me  the  road  to  Spain.'  In  an  hour  after 
receiving  it  I  set  out,  and,  after  so  many  years,  saw  my 
father's  house  and  my  brother  again.  It  was  a  painful  meet- 
ing. ,1 

"  My  father's  house  a  ruin,  my  brother  a  shadow — worse, 
a  caricature — of  his  former  self.  Ah,  my  friend,  the  ham- 
mer-theory had  shown  itself  cruel  to  its  staunchest  main- 
tainer.  How  had  the  clumsy  anvil  beaten  out  the  delicate 
hammer !  How  ignoble  he  had  grown  in  the  common  world 
which  he  so  deeply  despised !  '  Only  despise  reason  and 
knowledge,'  Goethe  makes  the  Spirit  of  Lies  say,  *  and  I 
have  you  then  safe.'  And  I  say,  only  despise  men,  and  you 
will  see  how  soon  you  grow  despicable  to  others  and  to  your- 
self 

"  I  told  him  why  I  had  come ;  he  led  me  in  silence  into 
the  park,  and  pointed  to  a  woman,  who,  in  a  fantastic  dress, 
flowers  and  weeds  in  her  glossy-black,  half-dishevelled  hair, 
in  her  hands  a  guitar  with  half  its  chords  broken,  was  wan- 
dering under  the  trees  and  among  the  shrubbery,  sometimes 
,  raising  her  dark  eyes,  as  if  in  ecstacy,  to  heaven,  and  again 
dropping  them,  as  in  despair,  to  the  earth. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  295 

"  *  You  see,'  he  said,  '  it  is  a  lie  that  I  have  imprisoned  her. 
Many  another  would  do  it,  for  it  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to 
afford  the  public  such  an  exhibition.' 

"  Take  her  to  her  native  place,"  I  said. 

" '  Try  it,'  he  answered.  '  She  would  leap  out  of  the  car- 
riage ;  she  would  throw  herself  into  the  sea.  And  if  you 
took  her  there  in  fetters  and  by  force,  what  would  be  her 
fate  ?  She  would  be  thrown  into  the  dungeon  of  a  convent, 
where  they  would  try  with  hunger  and  blows  to  exorcize  the 
devil  who  tempted  her  to  give  her  heart  to  a  heretic. 
Though  I  love  her  no  longer,  I  once  loved  her,  or  at  least 
she  has  been  mine ;  and  no  priest's  ungentle  hand  shall 
touch  what  has  once  belonged  to  me.' 

"  I  said  how  terrible  it  was  to  hear  him  speak  thus  of  his 
wife,  the  mother  of  his  child. 

"  *  Who  says  that  she  is  my  wife  ? '  was  his  reply. 

"  I  looked  at  him  amazed  and  shocked  ;  he  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

"  '  That  does  not  suit  your  citizen  virtue,'  he  said.  *  I 
would  have  made  her  Frau  von  Zehren,  notwithstanding  her 
father  is  a  hidalgo  of  very  doubtful  lineage,  had  the  child 
been  a  boy.  What  do  I  want  with  a  girl  ?  She  cannot  con- 
tinue our  race ;  let  it  then  end  with  me.' 

"  It  was  indifferent  to  him  whether  these  words  wounded 
me  or  not ;  he  had  no  desire  to  wound  me  ;  he  really  looked 
upon  the  superintendent  of  a  prison,  who  had  married  a 
poor  painter's  daughter,  as  not  a  Zehren. 

"  I  besought  him  to  give  me  the  child,  if,  as  he  said,  she 
was  nothing  to  him.  I  would  bring  her  up  with  my  Paula, 
who  was  then  just  born.  Here  she  must  perish  both  mor- 
ally and  physically ;  and  there  might  be  a  time  when  he 
would  long  for  a  child,  whether  son  or  daughter,  legitimate 
or  illegitimate. 

" '  Then  my  last  hour  must  have  come,'  he  answered,  turn- 
ing away  from  me  with  a  contemptuous  gesture. 

"  What  was  here  to  be  done  ?  I  was  not  here  to  hunt  with 
my  brother,  or  to  join  him  in  his  carouses  and  gaming  par- 
ties, to  which  he  invited  me,  with  ironical  politeness.  I  spoke 
with  the  poor  lunatic,  who  did  not  understand  me,  and  had 
no  idea  that  she  had  written  to  me,  as  to  many  others  whose 
names  she  had  learned  by  chance.     I  shook  hands  with  old 


296  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Christian,  who  had  always  been  fond  of  me,  and  was  now  the 
only  one  who  remembered  me,  and  begged  him  to  watch 
over  the  poor  forsaken  creature.  I  wandered  once  more 
through  the  park  and  greeted  the  scenes  of  my  boyish  sports  \ 
once  more  saw  the  sun  set  behind  the  house  where  my  cradle 
had  stood,  and  came  sorrowing  away.  Thus  might  a  tree 
feel  that  is  torn  from  the  earth  with  all  its  roots.  But,  thank 
heaven,  if  man  is  driven  from  his  home,  he  can  win  himself 
a  new  one  ;  and  when  the  gates  of  our  childhood's  paradise 
are  closed  behind  us,  another  world  opens  to  us  which  we 
must  conquer  and  possess  in  the  sweat  of  our  brows,  but 
which  for  this  reason  alone  is  truly  ours." 


CHAPTER    IX.  .  i 

IT  was  certainly  not  with  the  intention  of  stimulating  me 
— for  that  was  no  longer  needed — that  my  teacher  in  his 
discourses  ever  returned  to  the  same  theme,  that  free, 
voluntary  labor,  consecrated  by  love,  the  labor  of  all  for  all, 
was  the  completion  of  wisdom,  the  proper  aim  and  highest 
happiness  of  mankind.  This  was  the  last  result  of  his  prac- 
tical philosophy,  to  which  of  necessity  all  his  reflections  tended, 
whether  their  subject  was  the  destiny  of  the  individual  or  the 
race.  And  as  these  discourses  were  almost  always  carried  on 
in  intervals  of  repose  from  work,  from  which  we  came  and 
to  which  we  were  about  to  return,  they  might  be  called  sig- 
nificant arabesques  to  the  earnest,  and — as  it  now  looks  to 
me — moving  pictures  presented  by  the  unresting,  thoughtful 
master,  and  the  industrious,  eager  student,  in  their  combined 
occupation. 

This  occupation  was  strictly  regulated.  It  so  happened 
that  during  my  convalescence,  an  old  clerk  of  the  office,  who 
had  long  been  ailing,  died.  As  it  was  a  fixed  principle  with 
the  superintendent  that  all  work  should  be  done  by  inmates 
of  the  establishment,  so  far  as  that  was  practicable,  he  had, 
in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  President  von  Krossow,  by 
means  of  an  immediate  application  to  the  king,  supported 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  2gj 

by  his  friend,  Minister  von  Altenburg,  obtained  liberty  to 
leave  the  clerk's  place  unfilled,  and  to  give  his  work,  as  a 
special  favor,  to  me,  for  which  I  also  received  certain  emolu- 
ments, reduced  to  the  proportion  of  other  sums  paid  for 
prison-work.  Deacon  von  Krossow  congratulated  me,  with 
anything  but  cordiality,  on  my  "promotion,"  but  Dr.  Snel- 
lius  crowed  loudly  with  joy,  and  in  the  family  the  great  event 
was  celebrated  as  a  festival.  As  for  me,  this  arrangement 
had  lifted  a  load  from  my  breast.  I  had  now  no  longer  to 
fear  that  the  generous  man  who  had  already  done  so  much 
for.  me,  would  be  involved  in  serious  inconveniences  by  his 
kindness.  In  the  president's  circle  they  had  even  talked  of 
investigations,  removal  from  office,  of  pensioning  off  at  the 
very  least.  Now,  as  my  relation  to  him  bore  an  official  char- 
acter, this  danger  was  disposed  of,  and  I  could  look  with  a 
light  heart  through  the  open  window  by  which  my  work-table 
stood,  into  the  leafy  garden,  where  the  bees  were  humming 
around  the  flowers,  where  the  birds  sang  in  the  trees,  and 
among  the  flowers  and  under  the  trees  Frau  von  Zehren  took 
her  morning  walk,  leaning  on  her  daughter's  arm,  or  in  the 
afternoon,  after  school-hours,  the  boys  played  or  worked  in 
their  flower-beds. 

For  each  one,  even  Oscar,  had  his  bed,  which  he  had  to 
keep  in  order ;  and  it  was  always  a  fresh  pleasure  to  me  to  see 
the  little  men  with  their  watering-pots  and  other  implements, 
which  they  handled  with  the  skill  of  practiced  gardeners. 
And  yet  the  pleasure  which  this  sight  gave  me,  was  not  with- 
out a  touch  of  sadness.  It  always  brought  to  my  mind  my 
own  youth,  and  how  joyless  and  fruitless  it  had  been  in  com- 
parison with  this,  which  unfolded  itself  before  me  in  such 
fullness  of  beauty.  Who  had  ever  taught  me  to  employ  thus 
usefully  my  youthful  strength  .''  Who,  to  bring  a  significance 
even  into  my  sports  ?  Alas,  large  and  strong  as  I  was,  I 
might  have  been  nourished  by  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  this 
bounteous  table.  For  I  had  scarcely  known  my  mother,  and 
the  deeply  melancholy  disposition  of  my  father,  who  was 
naturally  grave,  and  had  been  rendered  still  more  gloomy  by 
the  loss  of  his  deeply-loved  wife,  was  to  a  vivacious  high- 
spirited  boy  at  once  mysterious  and  terrible.  Later  I  well 
understood  what  then  I  had  but  imperfect  glimpses  of — how 
deeply  and  sincerely  he  desired  my  welfare,  and  strove, 
13* 


298  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

according  to  his  conscience  and  knowledge,  to  be  a  good 
father  to  me  ;  but  like  Moses,  my  excellent  father  was  slow 
of  speech,  and  there  was  no  obliging  Aaron  at  hand  to  ex- 
plain to  me  the  reasons  of  his  stern  commands.  My  brother 
and  sister  were  considerably  older  than  myself  I  was  eight 
years  old  when  my  brother  Fritz,  then  sixteen,  went  to  sea, 
and  only  ten  when  my  sister,  who  was  twenty,  was  married. 
My  brother  was  a  lively,  gay  young  fellow,  and  troubled  him- 
self about  me  as  little  as  he  did  about  anybody  or  anything 
else  in  the  world  ;  my  sister  had  my  father's  sternness,  but 
without  his  feeling.  After  she  was  called  to  take  the  place 
of  a  mother  to  me,  she  treated  me  always  with  pedantic 
strictness,  and  often  with  petty  cruelty.  So  I  took  refuge 
with  the  old  serving-woman  who  lived  in  a  state  of  hostility 
Avith  her,  and  who,  to  reward  me  for  my  partisanship,  told 
me  stories  of  robbers  and  ghosts  ;  and  when  Sarah  married, 
and  with  her  parting  kiss  proceeded  to  give  me  a  farewell 
lecture,  I  told  her  in  the  presence  of  my  father,  her  husband, 
and  all  the  wedding-company,  that  I  wanted  neither  her 
teaching  nor  her  kiss,  and  that  I  was  glad  that  in  future  I 
should  see  and  hear  of  her  no  more.  This  was  held  up  as 
an  instance  of  the  most  frightful  ingratitude  on  my  part ;  and 
Justizrath  Heckepfennig,  who  was  also  present  on  this  oc- 
casion, pronounced  for  the  first  time  his  deliberate  convic- 
tion, which  subsequent  experience  was  only  too  strongly  to 
confirm,  that  I  "  would  die  in  my  shoes." 

No  one  can  blame  me,  if  while  I  looked  through  the  win- 
dow at  my  little  friends,  the  wish  arose  in  my  mind  that  I 
had  also  been  so  fortunate,  that  I  had  had  a  father  at  once 
so  wise  and  so  kind,  so  gentle  and  tender  a  mother,  such 
merry  companions  in  work  and  play,  and  above  all  such  a 
sister. 

At  first  she  always  brought  to  my  mind  some  old  child's 
story,  but  I  could  not  remember  precisely  what  it  was.  It 
was  not  little  Snow-white,  for  little  Snow-white  was  a  thous- 
and times  fairer  than  the  fairest  queen,  and  Paula  was  not 
really  beautiful ;  it  could  not  be  little  Red  Riding-hood,  for 
she,  when  you  came  to  look  at  it,  was  a  little  stupid  thing 
who  could  not  tell  the  wicked  wolf  from  her  good  old  grand- 
mother, and  Paula  was  tall  and  slender,  and  so  very  wise ! 
Cinderella .-'     Paula  was  so  neat  that  no  cinders  could  ever 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  299 

be  seen  about  her,  and  she  had  no  doves  at  her  command  to 
help  her  gather  the  peas  ;  on  the  contrary,  she  had  to  do 
everything  for  herself.  1  could  not  make  it  out,  and  con- 
cluded at  last  that  it  was  no  special  personage  of  whom  she 
reminded  me,  but  rather  that  she  was  like  one  of  the  good 
fairies  whom  one  does  not  see  either  coming  or  going,  and 
only  know  that  she  has  been  here  by  the  gift  she  has  left 
behind;  or  like  the  friendly  little  goblins  who,  while  the 
maids  sleep,  clean  up  parlor  and  kitchen,  garret  and  cellar ; 
and  when  the  sleepers  awake,  they  see  that  all  their  work  is 
done  already,  and  far  better  than  they  could  have  done  it 
themselves. 

Yes,  she  must  be  a  fairy,  who,  out  of  the  abundance  of 
her  kindness  to  those  whom  she  befriended,  had  taken  the 
form  of  a  slender  blue-eyed,  blonde  maiden.  How  other- 
wise could  it  be  that  from  early  morning  to  late  evening  she 
was  always  busy  and  yet  never  weary  ;  that  she  was  always 
at  hand  when  wanted  ;  that  she  had  ready  attention  for 
every  one,  and  that  never  the  shadow  of  ill-humor  passed 
across  her  sweet  face,  much  less  an  unkind  word  from  her 
lips  ?  True,  her  look  was  serious,  and  she  rarely  spoke  more 
than  just  what  was  needful,  but  her  seriousness  had  no 
admixture  of  gloom,  and  once  or  twice  I  even  heard  her 
playfully  chatting  with  a  half-loud  gentle  voice,  such  as  the 
fairies  have  when  they  speak  the  language  of  mortals. 

I  confided  my  discovery  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Snellius. 

"  Keep  away  from  me  with  such  nonsense !  "  cried  he. 
"  A  fairy,  indeed  !  It  is  Lessing's  old  fable  of  the  iron  pot 
that  must  needs  be  taken  off  the  fire  with  a  pair  of  silver 
tongs.  What  does  she  do,  then,  that  is  so  extraordinary  ? 
She  is  the  housekeeper,  the  teacher  of  the  children,  her 
father's  friend,  her  mother's  companion,  and  the  nurse  of 
both.  All  good  girls  are  all  this  :  there  is  nothing  so  unu- 
sual in  it ;  it  all  lies  in  system  and  order.  But  a  fantastic 
head  of  twenty  years  naturally  cannot  see  men  and  things  as 
they  really  are.  Do  you  marry  her.  That  is  the  best  means 
of  discovering  that  the  angels  with  the  longest  azure  wings 
are  but  women  after  all." 

I  passed  my  hand  through  my  hair,  which  was  now  percep- 
tibly regaining  its  former  luxuriance,  and  said  thoughtfully : 

"  I  marry  Paula  ?     Never !     I  cannot  imagine  the  man 


300  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

who  would  be  worthy  to  marry  her ;  but  this  I  know  cer- 
tainly, that  I  am  not  he.     What  am  I  ? " 

"  For  the  present  you  are  condemned  to  seven  years'  im- 
prisonment, and  have  therefore  fully  that  amount  of  time  for 
considering  what  you  will  be  when  you  are  released.  I  trust 
that  you  will  then  be  a  worthy  man,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
girl,  nor  what  seraph  is  too  good  for  a  worthy  man." 

"  But  I  know  another  reason,  doctor,  why  I  shall  not  be 
able  to  marry  her  then." 

"  What  is  that  ?  " 

"  Because  by  that  time  you  will  have  married  her  your- 
self." 

"  What  a  grinning,  gnashing  mammoth  !  Do  you  suppose 
a  girl  like  that  will  marry  an  apoplectic  billiard-ball  .'*  " 

Whether  the  doctor  was  provoked  at  the  contradiction  into 
which  he  had  fallen  in  scouting,  as  regarded  himself,  the 
possibility  which  he  had  just  maintained  in  reference  to  me 
— or  whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  the  blood  rushed 
so  violently  to  his  bald  head,  that  he  really  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  remarkable  object  to  which  he  had  just 
compared  himself,  and  his  crow  rose  to  such  an  extraordinary 
height  of  pitch,  that  he  did  not  even  make  the  attempt  to 
tune  himself  down. 

These  sayings  of  the  doctor  haunted  my  memory  for  sev- 
eral days.  I  was  struck  with  the  thought  that  a  worthy  man 
was  good  enough  for  any  girl,  and  therefore  that  in  this  re- 
spect there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  not,  sooner  or  later, 
marry  Paula.  But  then  again,  I  knew  not  how,  my  old  no- 
tions returned,  and  when  I  saw  her  arranging  and  ordering 
all  things  with  her  heavenly  patience,  I  said  to  myself — It  is 
not  true  that  all  girls,  even  the  so-called  good  ones,  are  like 
Paula ;  and  it  is  an  absurd  idea  of  the  doctor  that  I  can  ever 
be  worthy  of  her. 

The  clear  atmosphere,  the  splendid  sunsets,  the  dry  leaves 
that  here  and  there  fluttered  down  from  the  trees,  announced 
the  approach  of  another  autumn.  It  was  the  season  that  I 
had  spent  the  year  before  at  Castle  Zehrendorf ;  these  were 
the  same  signs  that  I  had  then  so  closely  observed,  and  they 
awakened  in  my  soul  a  crowd  of  memories.  I  had  believed 
that  these  memories  were  deeply  buried,  and  I  now  found  that 
only  a  thin  covering  had  been  spread  over  them,  which  every 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  301 

light  sighing  of  the  melancholy  autumn  breeze  sufficed  to  lift. 
Indeed  it  often  seemed  to  me  that  the  wounds  which  had  been 
inflicted  on  me  a  year  before  were  about  to  open  once  more. 
I  again  lived  over  all  that  time,  but  it  was  as  when  a  waking 
man,  in  full  consciousness,  calls  back  a  vivid  dream.  What 
in  a  dream,  with  the  incomplete  activity  of  our  intellectual 
faculties,  seemed  to  us  natural  and  reasonable,  appears  to  us, 
when  awake,  as  a  strange  phantasm  ;  and  what  then  tor- 
mented us  as  incomprehensible,  we  can  now  clearly  under- 
stand, because  we  can  supply  the  vacant  steps  which  our 
dreaming  fancy  has  leaped  lightly  over.  I  had  only  to  com- 
pare my  position  at  that  time  with  the  present,  to  see  how 
wild  a  caricature  my  fancy  had  drawn.  Then  I  imagined 
myself  free,  and  was  really  involved  in  a  net  of  the  most 
unhappy,  the  most  repulsive  circumstances,  as  a  fly  in  the  web 
of  a  spider ;  now  I  slept  every  night  behind  bars  of  iron, 
and  felt  as  calm  and  safe  as  when  one  steps  from  a  swaying 
boat  upon  the  steady  land.  Then  I  believed  that  I  had 
found  my  proper  career,  and  now  I  saw  that  that  life  was  only 
a  continuation,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  consequence  of 
a  youth  spent  without  plan  or  aim.  And  in  what  light  now 
did  the  persons  in  whose  destinies  I  had  taken  such  a  pas- 
sionate interest,  now  appear  to  me,  when  I  compared  them 
with  those  whom  I  had  learned  to  love  so  cordially — when  I 
compared,  for  instance,  the  Wild  Zehren  with  his  wise  and 
gentle  brother  ?  And,  as  I  had  begun  to  draw  comparisons, 
that  dejected,  sleepy  giant,  Hans  von  Trantow — ^where  now 
was  the  good  Hans,  if  he  was  not  dead  ?  and  there  were 
those  who  insisted  that  he  was  safe  enough,  and  they  knew 
very  well  where  he  was — had  to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of 
the  little,  intelligent  Doctor  Snellius,  always  full  of  life  and 
motion  ;  and  even  poor  old  Christian  was  compared  with  the 
vigorous  old  Sergeant  Siissmilch.  But  most  vividly  was  the 
comparison  forced  upon  me  between  the  beautiful,  romantic 
Constance,  and  the  pure,  refined  Paula. 

A  sharper  contrast  could  scarcely  be  imagined ;  and  for 
this  reason  perhaps  the  image  of  the  one  always  called  up 
that  of  the  other.  I  felt  for  Paula,  notwithstanding  her 
youth,  a  greater  respect  than  I  had  ever  felt  for  Constance, 
who  was  several  years  older,  and  far  more  beautiful.  True, 
with  the  latter  at  first  I  had  had  a  certain  bashfulness  to 


302  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

overcome  in  myself,  but  this  bashfulness  was  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent nature,  and  I  had  so  completely  overcome  it,  that  when 
I  left  the  castle  that  morning,  I  was  resolved  to  marry  her, 
in  spite  of  my  nineteen  years.  And  what  surprised  me  was 
the  fact  that  I  could  not  think  of  Constance,  who  had  so 
cruelly  betrayed  me,  and  whom  I  believed  myself  to  hate, 
without  the  wish  that  I  might  see  her  once  more,  and  tell  her 
how  much  I  had  loved  her,  and  how  deeply  she  had  wounded 
me.  Where  was  she  now  ?  When  last  heard  of,  she  was  in 
Paris. 

Was  she  still  there,  and  how  was  she  living  ?  That  she 
had  been  abandoned  by  her  lover,  I  knew  already ;  I  had 
laughed  aloud  when  I  first  heard  of  it.  Now  I  laughed 
no  longer;  I  could  not  think,  without  a  feeling  of  the  deep- 
est pity,  of  her  who  had  been  so  atrociously  wronged,  who 
now  perhaps — yes,  beyond  a  doubt — was  wandering  home- 
less and  friendless  about  the  world ;  an  adventuress,  as  her 
father  had  been  an  adventurer.  And  yet  she  couiid  not  be 
altogether  vile ;  had  she  not  with  pride  and  scorn  renounced 
every  claim  upon  her  father's  inheritance  ?  Did  she  not 
know  that  her  father  had  never  deigned  to  make  her  mother 
his  wife  ?  Had  she  perhaps  known  it  before  ?  And  if  so, 
did  not  this  fact  suffice  to  explain  the  hostile  position  she 
maintained  towards  her  father  ?  Could  she  love  the  man  who 
had  plunged  her  mother  into  such  unbounded  wretchedness — 
who  had  never  been  to  her  what  a  father  should  be,  and  who, 
if  the  reports  of  his  gaming  companions  were  to  be  believed, 
had  only  used  her  as  a  bait  to  allure  the  stupid  fish  to  his 
net  ?  Could  one  judge  her  so  severely — her  who  had  sprung 
from  such  parents,  grown  up  in  isolation  and  amid  such  asso- 
ciations, exposed  from  childhood  to  the  clumsy  attentions  or 
the  impertinent  familiarities  of  rude  country  squires^f  she 
had  violated  duties  whose  sacredness  she  had  never  compre- 
hended ? — if  she  had  been  sacrificed  by  a  profligate  who 
approached  her  with  all  the  temptations  of  wealth  and  his 
exalted  rank,  and  with  the  whole  magic  of  youth  ?  Unfortu- 
nate Constance  !  Your  song  of  the  "  falsest-hearted,  only 
chosen  "  was  cruelly  prophetic.  Your  chosen  one  had  in- 
deed proved  false-hearted  to  you.  And  the  other,  your 
faithful  George,  who  was  to  kill  all  the  dragons  lurking  in 
your  path,  you  scorned  his  service ;  and  the  mistrust  which 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  303 

you  felt  in  the  strength  and  wisdom  of  the  squire  who  had 
devoted  himself  to  you,  was  but  too  well  justified.  Would 
he  ever  see  you  again  ? 

I  know  that  she  had  refused  to  be  present  at  the  family 
conference  which  was  soon  to  be  held.  And  yet,  as  the  day 
drew  nearer,  the  thought  more  frequently  recurred  to  me, 
that  she  might  still  change  her  mind,  uncertain  and  impul- 
sive as  she  was,  and  suddenly  stand  before  me,  just  as  my 
friend  Arthur  one  evening,  as  I  was  returning  with  Paula 
from  the  Belvedere,  appeared  before  me  in  all  the  splendor 
of  his  new  ensign's  uniform. 


^  CHAPTER   X. 

THE  day  had  been  rainy  and  disagreeable,  and  my  frame 
of  mind  was  as  dull  and  gloomy  as  the  weather.  In 
the  morning  the  superintendent  had  had  an  attack  of 
hemorrhage.  I  was  for  the  first  time  alone  in  the  office,  and 
often  looked  over  from  my  work  to  the  place  that  was  vacant 
to-day,  and  again  listened,  when  a  light  swift  step  came  along 
the  corridor  from  the  room  where  the  superintendent  was,  to 
the  nursery,  where  the  little  Oscar  had  been  lying  for  a  week 
with  some  infantile  ailment.  I  was  always  hoping  that  the 
light  swift  step  would  stop  at  my  door ;  but  the  fairy  had  to- 
day too  much  to  do,  and  with  all,  I  thought,  had  probably 
forgotten  me. 

But  she  had  not  forgotten  me. 

It  was  towards  evening.  As  I  could  no  longer  see,  I  had 
put  by  my  work,  and  was  still  seated  upon  the  office  stool,  with 
my  head  resting  on  my  hand,  when  there  came  a  light  tap 
at  the  door.     I  hurried  to  open  it — it  was  Paula. 

"  You  have  not  been  out  of  the  room  the  whole  day,"  she 
said  ;  "  the  rain  is  over  ;  I  have  half  an  hour  to  spare ;  shall 
we  walk  in  the  garden  a  little  ? " 

"  How  are  they  ?  " 

"  Better,  much  better." 

She  answered  promptly,  and  yet  her  voice  did  not  have  a 
reassuring  sound ;  and  she  was  singularly  silent  as  side  by 


304  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

side  we  ascended  the  path  to  the  Belvedere.  I  concealed 
my  solicitude,  as  well  as  I  could,  by  encouraging  words. 
The  little  one,  I  said,  was  now  out  of  all  danger  ;  and  it  was 
not  the  first  attack  of  the  kind  which  the  superintendent  had 
had,  and  from  which  he  always  soon  recovered  his  usual 
strength.     This  was  Dr.  Snellius's  opinion  too,  I  added. 

While  I  thus  spoke,  Paula  had  not  once  looked  at  me,  and 
as  we  now  reached  the  summer-house,  she  entered  it  hastily. 
I  remained  behind  a  moment  to  look  at  the  clouds  which  the 
sunset  was  coloring  with  hues  of  marvellous  beauty,  and  called 
Paula  that  she  might  not  miss  the  splendid  sight.  She  did 
not  answer  ;  I  stepped  to  the  door.  She  was  sitting  at  the 
table,  her  face  buried  in  her  hands,  weeping.  | 

"  Paula,  dear  Paula  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

She  raised  her  head  and  strove  to  smile,  but  it  was  in  vain  ; 
again  she  covered  her  face  with  her  hands  and  wept  aloud. 

I  had  never  seen  her  before  in  this  state,  and  the  unu- 
sual and  unexpected  sight  distressed  me  inexpressibly.  In 
my  deep  emotion  I  ventured  for  the  first  time  gently  to 
smooth  down  her  blond  hair  with  my  hand,  speaking  to  her 
asto  a  child  whom  I  was  trying  to  soothe  and  comfort.  And 
what  was  this  maiden  of  fifteen  but  a  helpless  child  to  me, 
who  stood  by  her  now  in  the  plenitude  of  my  fully  restored 
strength  ? 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  she  sobbed,  "  very  kind  !  I  do  not 
know  why  just  to-day  I  see  everything  in  so  gloomy  a  light. 
Perhaps  it  is  because  I  have  borne  it  so  long  in  silence  ;  or 
possibly  it  may  be  this  gray,  cheerless  day ;  but  I  cannot 
keep  my  mind  clear  of  dreadful  thoughts.  And  what  will 
become  of  my  mother  and  the  boys  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head  mournfully,  and  looked  straight  be- 
fore her  with  eyes  dim  with  tears. 

It  had  begun  to  rain  again  ;  the  bright  tints  of  the  clouds 
had  changed  to  a  dull  gray  ;  the  evening  wind  rustled  in  the 
trees  and  the  dry  leaves  came  eddying  down.  I  felt  unut- 
terably sad — sad  and  vexed  at  heart.  Here  again  was  I  in 
the  most  wretched  of  positions;  compelled  to  witness  the 
distress  of  those  I  loved,  while  powerless  to  relieve  it.  It 
might  be  that  Constance  and  her  father  had  not  deserved 
the  sympathy  I  had  felt  for  them ;  but  I  still  had  endured 
the  grief  and  the  pain ;  and  this  family — this — I  knew  well 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  305 

were  worthy  that  a  man  should  shed  his  heart's  blood  in 
their  service.  Alas,  again  I  had  nothing  but  my  blood  that 
I  could  give !  To  give  one's  blood  is  perhaps  the  greatest, 
and  assuredly  the  last  sacrifice  that  one  man  can  bring  to 
another ;  but  how  often  does  it  prove  a  coinage  that  is  not 
current  in  the  market  of  life.  A  handful  of  money  would 
bring  rescue — a  piece  of  bread — a  blanket — a  mere  nothing 
— and  yet  with  all  our  blood  we  cannot  provide  this. 

And  as  I  stood,  leaning  in  the  door  of  the  summer-house, 
now  glancing  at  the  gentle,  weeping  girl,  and  now  at  the 
dripping  trees,  my  heart  swelling  with  sorrow  and  helpless 
indignation,  I  vowed  to  myself  that  in  spite  of  all,  I  would 
yet  raise  myself  to  a  position  where,  in  addition  to  my  good 
will,  I  should  also  have  the  power  to  help  those  whom  I 
loved. 

How  oft  in  my  after  life  have  I  recurred  in  memory  to  this 
vow !  It  seemed  so  utterly  impossible  ;  the  object  I  pro- 
posed to  attain  seemed  so  far  away  ;  and  yet  that  I  now 
stand  where  I  do  I  chiefly  owe  to  the  conviction  that  filled 
my  soul  at  that  moment.  So  the  shipwrecked  mariner,  bat- 
tling with  the  waves  in  a  frail  and  leaky  skiff,  sees  but  for 
a  moment  the  shore  where  there  is  safety  ;  but  that  moment 
suffices  to  show  him  the  course  he  must  steer  to  escape  de- 
struction. 

"  I  must  go  in,"  said  Paula. 

We  walked  side  by  side  along  the  path  leading  down  from 
the  Belvedere.  My  heart  was  so  full  that  I  could  not  speak ; 
Paula  also  was  silent.  A  twig  hung  across  the  path,  so  low 
that  it  would  have  brushed  her  head ;  I  raised  it  as  she 
passed,  and  a  shower  of  drops  fell  upon  her.  She  gave  a 
little  cry,  and  then  laughed  when  she  saw  me  confused  at  my 
awkwardness. 

"  That  was  refreshing,"  she  said. 

It  sounded  as  if  she  were  thanking  me,  though  I  had 
really  startled  her.  I  could  not  help  seizing  the  dear  maid- 
en's hand. 

"  How  good  you  are,  Paula,"  I  said. 

"  And  how  bad  you  are,"  she  replied,  looking  up  in  my 
face  with  a  radiant  smile. 

"  Good-evening !  "  a  clear  voice  exclaimed  close  at  hand. 

The  speaker  had  stepped  out  of  a  hedged  path  that  opened 


3o6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

at  right-angles  to  the  one  in  which  we  were  walking,  and  now 
stood  facing  us  in  a  gay  uniform,  his  left  hand  on  the  hilt  of 
his  sword,  three  white-gloved  fingers  raised  in  a  foppish  sa- 
lute to  the  peak  of  his  cap,  gazing  curiously  at  us  from  his 
brown  eyes,  and  a  half-mocking,  half-vexed  smile  upon  his 
face,  which  in  the  pallid  evening  light  looked  paler  and  more 
worn  than  ever. 

"Allow  me  to  present  myself,"  he  said — his  three  fingers 
still  raised  to  his  cap — "  Arthur  von  Zehren,  ensign  in  the 
i2oth.  Have  been^at  the  house  already;  learned  to  my  re- 
gret that  my  uncle  is  not  perfectly  well ;  my  aunt  is  not  visi- 
ble ;  would  at  least  not  neglect  to  pay  my  devoirs  to  my 
charming  cousin." 

He  said  all  this  in  a  drawling,  affected  tone,  without  look- 
ing at  me  (who  had  released  Paula's  hand  at  once)  or  taking 
the  slightest  notice  of  my  presence. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  it  has  happened  so  unfortunately,  Cousin 
Arthur,"  said  Paula.  "  We  did  not  look  for  you  before  next 
week."  I 

"  That  was  my  original  plan,"  replied  Arthur ;  "  but  my 
colonel,  who  is  so  good  as  to  take  a  special  interest  in  me, 
hastened  the  issue  of  my  commission,  so  that  I  was  able  to 
leave  yesterday,  and  present  myself  here  to-day.  Papa  and 
mamma  send  kind  remembrances  to  my  uncle  and  my  aunt ; 
they  will  be  here  the  beginning  of  next  week  ;  hope  uncle 
will  be  quite  restored  by  that  time.  Am  curious  to  see  him  ; 
they  say  he  is  very  like  my  grandfather  Malte,  whose  picture 
hangs  in  the  parlor  at  home.  Would  not  have  known  you, 
dear  cousin ;  you  have  not  the  family  face  ;  brown  hair  and 
eyes  is  the  Zehren  style." 

The  path  was  not  wide  enough  for  three  to  walk  abreast ; 
so  the  two  went  on  before,  and  I  followed  at  a  little  distance, 
but  near  enough  to  hear  every  word.  I  had  lately  been 
thinking  of  my  former  friend  with  very  mixed  feelings  ;  but 
now  as  he  strutted  along  before  me  at  the  side  of  that  dear 
child,  pouring  his  insipid  chatter  into  her  ear,  calling  her 
thou  and  cousin,  and  just  now,  either  accidentally  or  inten- 
tionally, touching  her  with  his  elbow — my  feelings  were  very 
unmixed  indeed.  I  could  have  wrung  Master  Ensign's  dainty 
little  brown  head  round  in  his  red  collar  with  extreme  satis- 
faction. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  307 

We  reached  the  house. 

"  I  will  see  if  you  cannot  speak  with  my  mother  for  a  few 
minutes  at  least,"  said  Paula  ;  "  please  wait  an  instant  here  ; 
you  have  not  spoken  to  your  old  friend  yet." 

Paula  ran  up  the  steps  ;  Arthur  saluted  her — ^three  fingers 
to  his  cap — as  she  went,  and  then  remained  standing  with 
his  back  to  me.  Suddenly  he  turned  upon  his  heel  so  as  to 
face  me,  and  said  in  his  most  insolent  tone  : 

"  I  will  now  bid  you  good-day ;  but  I  request  you  to  ob- 
serve that  before  third  parties  we  have  no  acquaintance — I 
presume  I  need  not  enter  into  details  why  this  is  so." 

Arthur  was  a  head  shorter  than  I,  and  he  had  to  look  up  in 
my  face  while  he  pronounced  these  severe  words.  This  cir- 
cumstance was  not  in  his  favor ;  rudenesses  are  much  best 
said  from  above  ;  and  it  struck  me  so  ludicrously  that  this 
little  fellow,  whom  I  could  have  tumbled  over  with  a  light 
push,  should  puff  himself  up  to  this  extent  before  me,  that  I 
laughed  aloud. 

An  angry  flush  crimsoned  Arthur's  pale  cheek. 

"  It  seems  you  mean  to  insult  me/'  he  said  ;  "  happily  in 
my  position  I  cannot  be  insulted  by  a  person  like  you.  I 
have  already  heard  on  what  footing  you  stand  here  ;  my 
uncle  will  have  the  choice  between  me  and  you.  I  do  not 
imagine  that  it  will  be  a  difficult  one." 

I  no  longer  laughed.  I  had  loved  this  youth  with  more 
than  brotherly  affection ;  I  had,  so  to  speak,  knelt  and  wor- 
shipped him  ;  I  had  rendered  him  a  vassal's  faithful  service ; 
had  good-naturedly  accompanied  him  in  all  his  follies,  and 
taken — how  often  ! — their  punishment  upon  myself.  I  had 
guarded  and  protected  him  in  every  danger ;  had  shared  with 
him  all  that  I  possessed,  only  his  share  was  always  by  far  the 
larger — and  now,  now,  when  I  was  in  misfortune  and  he  lux- 
uriating in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity,  now  he  could  speak  to 
me  thus!  I  could  scarcely  understand  it ;  but  what  I  did 
understand  was  inexpressibly  odious  to  me.  I  gazed  at  him 
with  a  look  before  which  any  other  would  have  lowered  his 
eyes,  turned  my  back  upon  him  and  went.  A  peal  of  derisive 
laughter  resounded  behind  me. 

"  Laugh  away  ! "  I  said  to  myself;  "  he  laughs  best  who 
laughs  last." 

But  when  I  thought  of  Paula's  behavior  during  this  inter- 


3o8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

view,  I  felt  that  it  might  well  have  been  different.  I  thought 
she  might  have  taken  my  side  more  openly.  She  well  knew 
how  Arthur  had  abandoned  me  as  soon  as  I  fell  into  misfor- 
tune ;  how  he  had  had  no  single  cheering  word  for  his  old 
companion  when  in  prison  ;  yes,  had  even  openly  renounced 
me,  and  blackened  my  name  with  calumny  like  the  rest. 

"  That  was  not  right — that  was  very  ill  done  of  Arthur," 
she  had  said  to  me  more  than  once  ;  and  now — I  was  very 
dissatisfied  with  !^aula. 

I  was  now  to  have  opportunities  enough  for  dissatisfac- 
tion ;  for  in  truth,  all  things  taken  together,  the  time  which 
followed  was  an  unhappy  time  for  me.  Arthur  presented 
himself  on  the  following  day,  and  was  received  by  the  super- 
intendent in  his  sick-room,  and  by  all  the  family,  in  the 
most  friendly  manner.  I,  who  had  always  stood  so  much 
alone,  possessed  in  but  slight  degree  the  family  feeling,  the 
respect  for  the  claims  of  kindred,  and  could  not  comprehend 
that  the  mere  accident  of  the  identity  of  name  and  origin 
could  in  itself  have  such  importance  as  was  manifestly  con- 
ceded to  it  here.  "  Dear  nephew,"  said  the  superintendent 
and  Frau  von  Zehren  ;  "  Cousin  Arthur,"  said  Paula  ;  and 
"  Cousin  Arthur,"  shout-ed  the  boys.  And  in  truth,  Nephew 
Arthur  and  Cousin  Arthur  was  amiability  itself  He  was 
respectful  to  his  uncle,  attentive  to  his  aunt,  full  of  chiv- 
alrous politeness  to  Paula,  and  hand-and-glove  with  the 
boys.  I  observed  all  from  a  distance.  The  superintendent 
still  had  to  keep  his  room  ;  and  I  took  that  for  a  pretext  for 
working  more  diligently  than  ever  in  the  office,  wliich  I 
quitted  as  seldom  as  possible,  and  where  I  buried  myself  in 
my  lists  and  drawings,  in  order  to  see  and  hear  nothing  of 
what  was  going  forward. 

Unhappily,  I  still  heard  and  saw  too  much.  The  weather 
had  cleared  up  again,  and  a  lovely  latter-autumn,  peculiar  to 
this  region,  followed  the  stormy  weather.  The  boys  had 
holiday,  the  family  scarcely  left  the  garden,  and  Cousin 
Arthur  was  always  of  the  company.  Cousin  Arthur  must 
have  had  precious  little  to  do  ;  the  colonel  deserved  arrest 
for  letting  his  ensigns  run  wild  in  this  fashion  ! 

Alas,  imprisonment  had  not  changed  me  for  the  better,  as 
I  sometimes  flattered  myself  When  before  had  even  a  feel- 
ing of  envy  or  of  grudging  arisen  in  my  soul  ?    When  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  309 

I  ever  disavowed  my  motto,  "  Live  and  let  live  ? "  And  now 
my  heart  beat  with  indignation  whenever,  raising  my  eyes,  I 
saw  Arthur  in  the  garden  stroking  the  little  moustache  that 
began  to  darken  his  lip,  or  heard  his  clear  voice.  I  grudged 
him  his  little  dark  moustache  ;  as  a  prisoner  I  could  wear  no 
beard,  and  mine  would  anyhow  have  been  of  a  very  pro- 
nounced red.  I  grudged  him  his  clear  voice  ;  my  own  was 
deep,  and  had  grown  very  rough  since  I  had  left  off  singing. 
I  grudged  him  his  freedom,  which,  in  my  eyes,  he  so  shame- 
fully abused.  I  almost  grudged  him  his  life.  Had  he  not 
wretchedly  darkened  my  own  life,  which  of  late  had  been  so 
pleasantly  lightened,  and  was  he  not  joyously  basking  in  the 
sunshine  from  which  he  had  expelled  me  ? 

And  yet  I  had  no  real  ground  to  complain.  The  superin- 
tendent, who  recovered  from  his  attack  less  rapidly  than  we 
had  hoped,  but  occasionally  came  into  the  office,  was  as 
sympathizing  and  kind  as  ever;  and  after  I  had  persistently, 
for  one  or  two  weeks,  declined  under  various  pretexts  the 
invitations  to  join  them  in  the  garden,  I  had  no  right  to  be 
surprised  if  Frau  von  Zehren  and  Paula  at  last  grew  weary 
of  troubling  themselves  about  me,  and  the  boys  preferred 
their  lively  cousin  Arthur,  who  taught  them  their  drill,  to  the 
melancholy  George,  who  no  longer  played  with  them.  In 
my  eyes,  however,  they  had  simply  abandoned  me ;  and  I 
should  have  fallen  into  mere  despair,  had  I  not  posisessed 
two  friends  who  held  fast  to  me,  and  secretly  or  openly  es- 
poused my  cause. 

These  two  friends  were  Doctor  Snellius  and  Sergeant 
Silssmilch. 

As  for  the  sergeant,  Master  Ensign  had  got  into  his  black 
book  on  the  second  day.  In  his  familiar  fashion,  he  had 
clapped  him  on  the  shoulder,  and  called  him  "Old  fellow." 
"  One  is  not  an  old  fellow  for  such  youngsters  as  that,"  said 
the  honest  sergeant,  as,  his  face  still  red  with  anger,  he  told 
me  of  the  affront  he  had  just  received.  "  One  might  have  a 
major's  epaulettes  on  the  shoulders  to-day,  if  one  had  cho- 
sen— will  let  the  youngster  see  that  one  is  not  a  bear  with 
seven  senses." 

The  doctor  too  had  his  complaint  of  the  insolence  of  the 
new-comer.  He  was  walking  in  the  garden  one  evening,  his 
hat  in  his  hand  as  usual,  when  Arthur  must  show  his  wit  in 


3IO  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

various  allusions  to  the  baldness  of  the  worthy  man,  and 
finally  asked  him  in  the  politest  manner,  if  he  had  never 
tried  Rowland's  Oil  of  Macassar,  whose  extraordinary  vir- 
tues he  had  frequently  heard  celebrated. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?"  asked  the  doctor.  "  I  re- 
plied to  him  that  I  made  all  the  jests  upon  my  bald  head 
myself,  and  desired  no  competition.  You  will  say  that  was 
rude — or  you  will  not  say  it,  for  you  like  this  glib-tongued, 
insinuating,  slippery  specimen  of  his  charming  species  as 
little  as  I  do.  And  the  Jack-Pudding  will  not  be  at  the  end 
of  his  part  so  soon,^  either.  Our  humane  friend  holds  it  his 
duty  to  practise  a  truly  Arabian  hospitality  to  a  kinsman, 
especially  if  he  be  poor ;  and  the  steuerrath,  I  hear,  is  in  a 
miserable  strait.  My  only  consolation  is  that  this  pitcher 
too  will  go  to  the  well  until  it  breaks." 

"  How  about  the  family  conference?  "  I  asked.  I 

"  Will  be  solemnly  opened  to-morrow.  Humanus  has  in- 
vited them  all  to  take  up  lodgings  with  him.  Our  half-pay 
friend  has  accepted,  naturally ;  but  what  I  am  surprised  at  is, 
that  so  has  the  other,  the  Croesus,  and  not  only  for  himself, 
but  for  his  golden  daughterkin  and  her  governess.  There 
are  one — two — five  persons,  who  will  shortly  enliven  our  soli- 
tude in  the  most  charming  manner.  My  notion  is  that  one 
or  two  deserve  to  remain  here  forever." 

Thus  crowed  Doctor  Snellius,  then  hopped  on  another  leg 
and  tuned  himself  down.  I,  for  my  part,  was  not  a  little  ex- 
cited at  the  report  of  the  speedy  arrival  of  the  long-expected 
guests.  Already  had  Arthur's  presence  placed  a  restraint 
upon  me  ;  what  would  it  be  when  all  these  came  ?  How 
should  I  meet  the  steuerrath  i' — how  the  commerzienrath  ? 
The  one  that  had  so  shamefully  abused  the  generosity  of  his 
nobler  brother,  and  the  other  that  had  traded  so  skilfully  in 
the  embarrassments  in  which  his  incautious  nature  had  in- 
volved him.  My  aversion  to  the  pair  was  of  ancient  date, 
and  but  too  well  founded.  But  why  should  I  in  any  way 
come  in  contact  with  them  ?  If  I  did  not  come  to  them,  they 
would  hardly  hunt  me  up.  To  be  sure,  there  was  the  little 
Hermine  !  Had  she  still  the  same  corn-flower  blue  eyes  as 
on  that  morning  on  the  deck  of  the  Penguin  ?  And  the  sen- 
tentious governess,  did  she  still  wear  those  yellow  locks  ?  It 
was  a  bright  sunny  day  when  I  last  saw  them  both ;  but  the 


-  »)n 


-  «- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  311 

sun  had  set  too  soon,  and  the  evening  closed  in  rain — in  rain 
and  dark  mist,  through  which  the  face  of  my  father,  pale  with 
anger,  looked  threateningly  at  me. 

"  Why  do  you  sigh  ?  "  asked  Doctor  Snellius,  who  in  the 
meantime  had  been  examining  a  ground-plan  on  which  I  had 
been  working  for  the  last  few  days.  "  Your  progress  is  per- 
fectly fabulous ;  I  should  never  have  believed  that  so  neat 
and  charming  a  piece  of  work  could  come  from  the  hands  of 
a  mammoth.     Good-by,  mammoth  !  " 

The  good  doctor  shook  my  hand  cordially  and  hopped  out 
of  the  room.     I  gazed  sadly  after  him,  as  sadly  as  if  I  had 
really  been  a  mammoth,  and  knew  that  I  was  doomed  to  lie  - 
for  thirty  thousand  years  under  snow  and  ice,  and  to  be  after- 
wards exhibited,  stuffed,  in  a  museum. 


^.    CHAPTER    XI. 

MY  wish  and  my  hope  to  be  allowed  to  keep  out  of  sight 
during  the  family  conference,  were  to  be  frustrated 
in  the  most  singular  manner.  I  was  appointed  to 
play  a  part,  and  no  insignificant  one,  in  the  family  drama. 

The  guests  had  arrived,  and  were  comfortably  accommo- 
dated in  the  superintendent's  not  very  roomy  house.  In  the 
evening  all  had  met  at  the  table.  Doctor  Snellius  also  being 
present.  Early  the  next  morning  he  came  to  me,  to  disbur- 
den his  full  heart. 

The  worthy  doctor  was  under  considerable  excitement.  I 
perceived  that  at  his  first  word,  which  was  pitched  a  full  third 
higher  than  usual. 

"  I  knew  it,"  he  said.  "  It  was  perfect  idiotcy  to  invite 
this  swarm  of  locusts  ;  they  will  utterly  devour  my  poor  Hu- 
manus,  who  has  not  so  many  green  leaves  left.  What  sort 
of  a  company  is  this  ?  You  have  not  told  me  a  hundredth 
part  of  the  evil  that  even  a  lamb-like  disposition  such  as 
mine  can,  and  must,  and  will  say  of  these  people.  People  ! 
It  is  scandalous  how  we  misuse  that  word.  Why  people  ? 
Because  they  go  upon  two  legs  ?    Then  the  revolting  area- 


312  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

tures  that  Gulliver  saw  in  the  land  of  the  noble  horses,  were 
people  too.  But  the  English  skeptic  knew  better,  and  called 
them  Yahoos.  And  such  are  our  dear  guests,  or  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  natural  history.  The  commerzienrath  with  his 
great  paunch,  and  his  cunning,  blinking  eyes,  is  one.  I  could 
but  look  at  his  short  clumsy  fingers  ;  I  believe  the  fellow  has 
worn  them  off  handling  his  gold.  And  the  steuerrath  is  an- 
other, though  he  makes  desperate  efforts  to  appear  a  human 
being.  He  has  long  fingers,  very  long ;  but  does  a  human 
being  ever  twist  such  long  fingers  about  in  that  fashion, 
curve  his  back  with  such  a  cat-like  pliancy,  and  wear  such  a 
white,  smooth,  smiling,  false  thiefs  face }  As  for  the  gracious 
born  Baroness  Kippenreiter,  any  one  will  believe  at  her  first 
word  that  she  has  held  a  high  place  in  the  republic  of  those 
fascinating  creatures,  and  only  came  to  Europe  by  the  last 
ship.  She  cannot  deny  her  nature  ;  her  Yahoo  origin  grins 
unmistakably  from  her  long  vellow  teeth.     Hm,  hm,  hm  !  " 

"And  Fraulein  Duff.?"  I  asked. 

"  Duff?  "  cried  he—"  Who  is  Fraulein  Duff?  "  |. 

"The  governess  of  the  little  Hermine." 

"  Of  the  little  beauty  whom  I  was  called  to  attend  ?  Her 
name  is  Fraulein  Duff?  A  very  good  name  !  Might  be 
Du/t  [perfume],  and  would  then  be  still  more  suitable. 
Mignonnette  blooming  in  pots,  and  dried  between  flannel- 
jackets  in  a  bureau-drawer ;  faded  ribbons,  tarnished  .leaves 
of  albums,  and  a  little  ring  of  gold  which  did  not  even  snap 
when  the  faithless  lover  deserted  his  Elvira.  Is  not  her 
name  Elvira  ?  It  must  be.  Amalie,  you  say  ?  Certainly  an 
error  of  the  press  ;  nothing  about  her  to  remind  one  of  The 
Robbers — ^unless  it  be  her  long,  languishing  ringlets,  which  as- 
suredly are  stolen." 

"  Why  were  you  called  into  the  little  girl  ?"  I 

"  She  had  eaten  too  many  apple-tarts  on  the  road.  As  if 
such  a  thing  could  hurt  a  little  millionairess  !  Oh,  if  it  had 
been  black  bread,  now !  I  said  so  to  the  sorrowing  father. 
*  In  all  her  life  she  never  tasted  a  crumb  of  black  bread,' 
the  monster  replied,  patting  his  protuberant  paunch.  '  Who 
never  ate  his  bread  with  weeping,'  sighed  the  governess, 
and  added,  *  that  is  an  eternal  truth.'  The  deuce  only 
knows  what  she  meant." 

The  doctor  went  to  visit  his  patients ;  I  started  for  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  313 

office,  keeping  close  tg  the  wall,  and  slipped  into  the  houje 
through  the  back-door,  for  fear  of  being  noticed  by  some  one 
of  the  guests.     But  no  one  saw  me. 

However,  in  the  course  of  the  day  I  caught  sight  of  them 
from  my  window.  First,  the  commerzienrath,  taking  his 
morning  promenade  through  the  garden,  a  long  pipe  in  his 
mouth.  He  seemed  to  be  pondering  over  important  things. 
From  time  to  time  he  stopped,  and  gazed  long  into  vacancy. 
Doubtless,  he  was  calculating.  I  observed  how  with  his 
stumpy  fingers  he  was  multiplying,  and  then  wrote  the  pro- 
duct in  the  air  with  the  end  of  his  pipe-stem.  Once  his  face 
puckered  into  a  grin  of  delight ;  what  could  he  have  reck- 
oned out  ? 

The  next  was  the  steuerrath.  He  went  an  hour  later,  with 
his  brother,  through  the  garden.  The  steuerrath  was  speak- 
ing very  animatedly ;  he  several  times  laid  his  right  hand 
upon  his  breast,  as  if  in  asseveration.  The  superintendent's 
eyes  were  dropped ;  the  subject  of  "the  conversation  seemed 
to  distress  him.  When  they  came  near  my  window,  he  looked 
across  with  apparent  uneasiness,  and  drew  his  brother  behind 
a  hedge.  Apparently  he  did  not  wish  me  to  witness  his 
brother's  gesticulations. 

I  had  bent  over  my  work  again  with  the  painful  feeling 
that  I  was  a  superfluity  and  in  the  way,  when  suddenly  the 
door  leading  from  the  office  into  the  garden  was  opened,  and 
the  steuerrath  hastily  entered.  I  was  startled,  as  even  a  man 
of  courage  is  startled  when  unexpectedly  a  serpent  glides 
across  his  path.  The  steuerrath  smiled  very  beni^antly, 
and  held  out  to  me  his  white  well-kept  hand,  which  he  again 
withdrew  with  a  graceful  wave,  as  I  showed  no  disposition  to 
take  it. 

"  My  dear  young  friend,"  he  said,  "  must  we  meet  again 
thus  r 

I  made  him  no  answer ;  what  could  I  answer  to  a  phrase 
in  which  every  word  and  every  tone  was  a  lie  ? 

"  How  would  I  deplore  your  fate,"  he  proceeded,  "  hai^iot 
fortune  brought  you  here  to  my  brother,  who  without  doubt 
is  one  of  the  noblest  and  best  of  men  alive,  and  who  even 
now,  while  we  were  walking  there,  has  said  so  many  kind 
and  affectionate  things  of  you.  I  was  impelled  to  offer  you 
my  hand,  although  I  had  a  presentiment  that  you,  like  your 
14 


314  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

father,  would  turn  from  one  whom  in  truth  fortune  has  bit- 
terly enough  persecuted." 

And  the  victim  of  fortune  threw  himself  into  an  arm-chair, 
and  covered  his  eyes  with  his  long  white  hand,  the  ring-finger 
of  which  was  adorned  with  an  enormous  signet. 

"  I  do  not  reproach  him  for  it :  Heaven  forbid  !  I  have 
known  him  for  so  many  years.  He  is  one  of  those  strict 
men,  whose  horror  of  dereliction  to  duty  is  so  great,  and  at 
the  same  time'" so  blind,  that  in  their  eyes  an  accused  person 
always  appears  a  guilty  one." 

The  last  observation  was  too  just  for  me  not  to  admit  it 
inwardly ;  and  probably  my  look  expressed  as  much,  for  the 
steuerrath  said  with  a  melancholy  smile  : 

"  Yes,  you  can  sing  a  sad  song  to  that  tune  !  Well,  well, 
I  will  not  chafe  the  wound  which  pains  you  more  than  all  the 
rest ;  but  in  truth  you  have  only  early  learned  what  sooner 
or  later  we  must  all  learn,  that  we  can  least  expect  a  correct 
construction  of  our  views  and  intentions,  and  even  of  our 
position,  from  those  who  stand  in  the  closest  relation  to  us." 

In  this  too  there  was  truth  ;  and  I  could  not  refrain  from 
looking  in  a  more  friendly  manner  at  the  man. 

"  I  have  just  now  had  proof  of  this.  My  brother  Ernest 
is,  as  I  have  already  said,  one  of  the  best  of  men  ;  and  yet 
what  trouble  does  it  not  give  him  to  place  himself  in  my  sit- 
uation. To  be  sure,  he  has  always  lived  with  so  much  regu- 
larity that  he  does  not  know  what  it  is  in  one  night  to  lose 
the  half  of  one's  receipts,  which  are  anyhow  dealt  out  in 
such  stinted  measure  ;  he  does  not  know  what  it  is  to  have 
to  compromise  with  one's  creditors — ^to  risk  one's  own  sub- 
sistence and  that  of  others,  alas  !  and  what  is  bitterest  of  all, 
to  be  dependent  on  the  good-will  of  a  hard-hearted  man  of 
money  ! " 

Here  the  white  hand  wiped  a  tear  which  seemed  to  have 
accumulated  in  the  inner  corner  of  his  right  eye,  and  then 
resignedly  glided  to  his  lap,  while  a  mild  smile  stole  over  his 
aristocratic  features. 

He  rose  and  said : 

"  Forgive  me ;  but  an  unfortunate  one  feels  himself  irre- 
sistibly attracted  to  the  unhappy,  and  you  have  always  been 
a  friend  of  my  house,  and  the  best  companion  of  my -Arthur. 
You  must  not  take  it  ill  of  the  poor  youth,  if  pride  in  his 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  315 

new  sword  has  turned  his  head  a  little.  You  know  him ; 
hardly  once  in  ten  times  does  his  heart  know  what  his 
tongue  is  saying  ;  and  he  has  already  owned  to  me  that  in 
the  notion  that  he  owed  it  to  his  dignity  as  an  ensign,  he 
behaved  very  foolishly  to  you.  You  really  must  forgive 
him." 

He  smiled  again,  nodded  to  me,  was  about  to  offer  his 
hand  again,  but  remembered  that  I  had  refused  it  before, 
and  withdrew  it,  smiled  again,  but  very  sadly,  and  went  to 
the  garden  door,  which  he  opened  softly  and  softly  closed 
behind  him. 

I  looked  after  him  with  a  mingled  feeling  of  astonishment 
and  contempt.  Was  this  soft-speaking  man,  who  in  my  pres- 
ence could  weep  over  his  position,  the  same  to  whom  as  a  boy 
I  had  looked  up  as  to  a  superior  being  ?  And  if  his  case 
was  so  desperate — and  as  far  as  I  could  learn  it  might  very 
well  be  so — I  might  have  behaved  in  a  more  friendly  man- 
ner to  him,  might  have  afforded  him  a  word  of  sympathy, 
above  all,  need  not  have  repulsed  his  offered  hand. 

My  face  burned  ;  it  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  rudely 
repelled  a  supplicant.  I  asked  myself  again  whether  impris- 
onment had  not  corrupted  me ;  and  I  was  glad  that  I  had 
kept  so  silent  in  regard  to  the  relations  between  the  steuer- 
rath  and  his  deceased  brother,  and  especially  that  I  had 
faithfully  guarded  the  secret  of  that  letter,  even  from  the 
superintendent,  in  whom,  in  all  other  respects,  I  place  un- 
bounded confidence.  Had  the  steuerrath  a  suspicion  that  I 
could  have  revealed  something  had  I  chosen  ?  and  had  he 
come  this  morning  to  thank  me  for  my  silence? 

The  steuerrath  appeared  at  once  to  me  in  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent and  much  more  favorable  light  We  feel  a  certain 
inclination  towards  persons  whom  we  have  laid  under  obliga- 
tion, if  they  are  acute  enough  to  let  us  perceive  that  they 
are  penetrated  by  the  feeling  of  that  obligation, 

I  would  also  let  Arthur  see  that  I  had  forgiven  his  folly. 

The  steuerrath  is  right,  I  thought ;  not  once  in  ten  times 
does  he  know  where  his  tongue  is  running  to. 

As  I  formed  this  magnanimous  resolution,  there  came 
another  knock — this  time  at  the  door  that  led  into  the  hall , 
and  I  came  very  near  laughing  aloud  when  upon  my  calling 
"Come  in!  "  the  commerzienrath  presented  himself  on  the 


3i6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

threshold  ;  not  this  time  in  dressing-gown  and  slippers,  with 
his  long  pipe  in  his  hand  as  before,  but  in  a  blue  frock-coat 
•with  gold  buttons,  a  wide  black  neckcloth,  out  of  which  pro- 
jected fiercely,  at  least  four  inches,  the  long  points  of  his 
high-standing  collar,  a  flowered  waistcoat  loose  enough  not 
to  incommode  his  prominent  paunch,  nor  interfere  with  the 
display  of  his  neatly-ironed  frill,  black  trousers  which  were 
not  so  long  but  that  one  might  see  how  firmly  his  two  flat 
feet  stood  in  the  shining  boots.  In  this  very  costume  did 
this  man  pervade  all  the  recollections  of  my  earliest  youth ; 
and  perhaps  it  was  because  then,  in  my  childish  innocence, 
I  had  laughed  at  his  grotesque  appearance,  that  now,  when 
to  say  the  least  such  behavior  was  far  more  unbecoming,  I 
was  again  seized  with  an  impulse  to  laughter. 

"  How  are  you  now,  my  dear  young  friend  ?  "  said  the 
commerzienrath,  in  the  tone  with  which  one  inquires  into 
the  state  of  some  one  on  his  death-bed. 

"I  thank  you  for  your  kind  inquiry,  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath ;  I  am  quite  well,  as  you  see." 

"  You  are  a  tremendous  fellow,"  cried  the  commerzienrath, 
taking  his  tone  from  me  at  once.  "  But  that  is  right ;  we 
can  live  but  once ;  one  must  take  things  as  they  come.  I 
said  as  much  to  your  father  only  yesterday,  when  I  met  him 
upon  the  street.  *  Good  heavens  ! '  I  said,  '  why  do  you 
make  such  a  terrible  matter  of  it  ?  We  have  all  been  young 
once ;  and  youn^  men  will  be  young  men.  Why  have  you 
stopped  his  allowance  ? '  I  asked.  '  He  is  not  condemned 
to  hard  labor;  he  has  not  forfeited  the  right  to  wear  the 
national  cockade  ;  he  is  only  imprisoned.  That  might  hap- 
pen to  any  one  ;  and  you,'  I  said,  *  are  such  an  honorable 
man  that  it  would  be  an  honor  to  us  all  to  play  Boston  with 
you,  even  if  you  had  four  sons  in  the  penitentiary.'  " 

The  commerzienrath's  head  sank  again  upon  one  side ; 
it  is  possible  that  at  his  last  words  my  face  assumed  a  grave 
expression. 

"  To  be  sure,"  said  he,  "  there  are  many  that  take  it  more 
easily.  There  is  my  brother-in-law.  I  would  not  be  in  his 
shoes  although  his  father  was  a  nobleman  of  the  empire  and 
mine  only  an  ordinary  needleman.  The  investigation  let 
him  off,  but  it  was  with  a  black  eye.  Any  one  would  sup- 
pose he  had  had  enough  of  intriguing  for  his  life-time  ;  but 


.  Jn^ 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  317 

he  cannot  keep  out  of  it.  Great  heavens,  it  is  a  shame,  the 
amount  that  his  family  has  cost  me  already.  Would  you  be- 
lieve it,  that  I  had  to  pay  for  my  wife's  trousseau  out  of  my 
own  pocket  ?  Then  the  one  at  Zehrendorf  and  his  drafts  ! 
By  the  way,  did  he  ever  tell  you  that  he  had  assigned  all 
Zehrendorf  to  me,  years  ago  ?  Try  to  think  ;  he  must  have 
mentioned  it  to  you  on  some  occasion  or  other.  He  was 
not  one  of  those  that  keep  their  mouths  close  shut.  And 
therei's  the  steuerrath  !  What  have  I  not  already  done  for 
the  man ;  and  now  these  pretensions  of  his  !  Indemnifica- 
tion !  A  man  must  live ;  and  if  one  has  not  a  son,  who 
naturally  could  not  be  set  to  earn  his  own  living,  still  one 
has  a  daughter  that  one  does  not  want  to  let  starve.  You 
must  try  to  get  out  of  here,  my  boy.  The  girl  asks  after 
you  ten  times  a  day.  You  have  bewitched  her,  you  rascal 
you ! " 

And  the  commerzienrath,  who  had  arisen  and  was  stand- 
ing by  me  with  his  hat  and  stick  in  his  hand,  gave  me  a  little 
poke  in  the  ribs. 

"  The  Fraulein  is  very  kind,"  I  said. 

"  Look  there  now,  how  you  blush ! "  said  the  commer- 
zienrath ;  "  quite  right ;  I  like  that.  Respect  for  the  ladies  ; 
don't  be  an  idle  coxcomb ;  a  fellow  of  that  sort  is  worth 
nothing  all  his  life.  But  you  must  not  call  my  Hermann 
Fraulein ;  Fraulein  Duff  will  never  allow  that ;  she  must  be 
called  Fraulein  herself,  though  she  would  give  her  two  little 
fingers  if  she  did  not  need  to  be  called  Mamsell  or  Fraulein 
any  longer." 

The  commerzienrath  winked  as  he  said  this,  puffed  out  his 
cheeks,  and  gave  me  another  little  poke. 

"  I  shall  hardly  have  the  opportunity,"  I  said. 

"  Pooh  !  "  said  the  commerzienrath,  "  don't  be  tragic.  We 
are  to  ourselves  here.  I  spoke  with  my  brother-in-law  to-day 
about  it ;  you  must  take  supper  with  us  this  evening.  Her- 
mann—you know  I  call  her  Hermann — wants  particularly  to 
see  you.     Adieu  !  " 

And  he  kissed  the  tips  of  his  clumsy  fingers  and  left  the 
room,  giving  me  another  wink  as  he  passed  out  at  the  door. 

What  was  the  meaning  of  these  visits  "i  What  did  the  cere- 
monious steuerrath  and  the  purse-proud  commerzienrath  want 
with  me,  a  prisoner  ?    I  might  have  racked  my  brain  in  vain 


3i8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

for  a  solution  of  the  enigma,  had  not  the  superintendent, 
who  came  into  the  office  that  afternoon,  let  fall  a  word  which 
gave  me  the  key  to  the  mystery. 

"  I  wish  the  next  three  days  were  over,"  said  he.  "  You 
would  not  believe,  my  dear  George,  how  repulsive  to  me  are 
all  these  transactions,  which  have  no  material  interest  for 
me.  They  really  only  want  me  to  act  as  umpire,  and  flatter 
me  in  the  hope  of  influencing  my  decision  beforehand.  And 
if  I  could  only  decide — but  how  is  that  possible  in  this  case 
where  the  parties  themselves  do  all  they  can  to  obscure  the 
matter  ?  They  count  upon  you,  my  dear  George,  as  you  are 
the  only  one  who  was  near  my  unhappy  brother  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  and  thus  may  possibly  be  able  to  give  informa- 
tion on  some  points  that  need  to  be  cleared  up.  And  now 
come  with  me  into  the  garden.  Snellius  and  you  must  help 
me  to  entertain  the  company.  My  poor  wife  and  I  will 
really  not  be  able  to  go  through  with  it." 

Smiling  as  he  said  these  words,  he  took  my  arm  and  let 
me  assist  him  down  the  steps  into  the  garden  and  up  the 
path  to  the  Belvedere,  from  which  even  at  a  distance  there 
reached  us  the  joyous  clamor  of  children.  It  was  the  first 
time  since  my  misfortunes  that  I  had  gone  into  society.  I 
had  learned  while  in  prison  many  things  of  which  I  was  proud, 
but  also  one  of  which  I  was  ashamed,  namely,  the  agitation 
that  overcame  me  as  I  heard  nearer  and  nearer  the  voices 
of  the  speakers,  and  saw  the  dresses  of  the  ladies  glancing 
through  the  hedge,  already  thinned  by  the  autumn  winds. 

I  had  cause  to  be  content  with  my  reception :  the  boys 
rushed  at  me,  and  Kurt  cried  that  I  must  play  with  them,  for 
Cousin  Arthur  kept  with  Hermine  and  Paula,  and  that  was 
tiresome  ;  and  Hermine  anyhow  was  only  ten  years  old,  and 
did  not  need  to  be  so  proud. 

"  Hermine  is  not  proud,  but  you  are  too  wild,"  said  Paula, 
who  was  holding  Hermine's  hand,  while  Arthur  kept  a  little 
in  the  background  and  twirled  his  little  sprout  of  a  moustache 
with  visible  embarrassment. 

I  caught  up  the  boys  and  tossed  each  in  succession  high 
in  the  air,  to  conceal  my  confusion  as  well  as  I  could,  while 
I  kept  my  eyes  fixed  upon  Hermine.  It  was  really  not  pos- 
sible to  find  anything  more  dainty  and  charming  than  this 
beautifuL  creature,  in  her  white  dress,  which  again  was  trim- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  319 

med  with  cornflower  blue  ribbons,  as  when  I  saw  her  on  the 
steamer.  And  her  great  blue  eyes  looked  as  eagerly  at  me, 
and  her  red  lips  were  half  parted,  as  if  she  had  suddenly 
caught  sight  of  the  prince  of  a  fairy-tale. 

"  Is  that  he  ? "  I  heard  her  whisper  to  Paula,  "  and  can  he 
really  conquer  lions  ?  " 

I  did  not  catch  Paula's  answer  to  this  singular  question, 
for  I  had  now  to  turn  to  Frau  von  Zehren,  who  sat  between 
her  sister-in-law  and  Fraulein  Duff  on  the  bench.  Frau  von 
Zehren  looked  paler  than  usual,  and  her  poor  blind  eyes 
turned  with  an  appealing  look  towards  me,  while  a  painfully- 
confused  smile  played  about  her  lips. 

She  offered  me  her  hand  at  once,  and  half  arose  from  the 
bench,  but  remembered  that  she  must  remain  sitting,  and 
smiled  yet  more  sadly. 

I  wished  the  born  Baroness  Kippenreiter,  with  her  long 
yellow  teeth,  and  the  governess,  with  her  long  yellow  ring- 
lets, who  were  both  staring  at  me  through  their  eye-glasses, 
a  thousand  miles  away. 

The  superintendent  had  now  joined  us,  and  said :  "  Will 
you  not  take  my  arm  awhile,  Elise  ?  You  will  be  chilled ; 
the  ladies  will  certainly  excuse  you." 

"Oh,  allow  me  to  walk  with  our  dear  friend,"  cried  the 
born  Kippenreiter,  springing  up  with  decision.  The  super- 
intendent slightly  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  You  are  not  one  of  the  most  robust  yourself,  dear  sister- 
in-law,"  he  said. 

"  I  am  strong  whenever  duty  calls,"  cried  the  bom  Kippen- 
reiter, drawing  Frau  von  Zehren  away  with  her. 

"  That  is  a  grand  expression  !  "  sighed  Fraulein  Duff. 
"  Happy  he  who  can  say  that  of  himself!  "  and  the  pale  gov- 
erness shook  her  yellow  locks  in  a  dejected  way,  then  turned 
her  dim*eyes  on  me,  and  lisped  : 

"Richard — ah,  just  as  in  the  old  story!  Alas  that  the 
Blondel  is  wanting !  But  do  not  despair ;  faithfully  seek, 
and  thou  shalt  find  at  last ;  that  is  an  immortal  truth," 

"  How  are  you,  Fraulein  Duff  .> "  I  asked,  merely  to  say 
something. 

"  And  still  this  charming  quality  of  taking  an  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  others,  with  all  his  own  misfortunes  !  That  is 
beautiful !    that  is  great !  "   whispered  the  governess.     "  I 


320  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

must,  indeed  I  must,  make  an  attempt  to  creep  into  your 
heart " 

She  laid  the  tips  of  three  fingers  upon  my  arm  and  pointed 
shyly  with  her  parasol  in  the  direction  which  the  company, 
who  had  now  left  the  place  under  the  plane-trees,  had  taken. 

"  And  how  do  you  live  here  ?  "  she  again  whispered,  as  we 
descended  into  the  garden.  "  But  why  need  I  ask — calm  and 
free  from  care  as  William  Tell.  Life  here  is  an  idyll.  Do 
not  talk  to  me  of  a  prison  !  The  whole  world  is  a  prison  ; 
no  one  knows  that  better  than  I." 

"  I  should  have  thought,  Fraulein  Duff,  that  the  education 
of  so  charming  a  creature " 

"  Yes,  she  is  charming,"  replied  the  pale  lady,  with  a  flush 
of  real  emotion,  "lovely  as  a  May  morning,  but  you  can  un- 
derstand— the  undisturbed  happiness  of  life — that  this  child 
should  have  such  a " 

She  looked  cautiously  around,  and  then  continued  in  a 
hollow  voice : 

"  Only  think  !  he  calls  her  Hermann,  and  asks  three  times 
a  day  why  she  is  not  a —  Fi  done !  I  cannot  utter  it.  Oh, 
it  lacerates  my  heart  that  such  rough  hands  should  clutch  the 
delicate  chords  of  this  virgin  soul !  The  world  loves  to 
blacken  whatever  is  bright  and  fair ;  who  knows  not  that } 
but  at  least  her  own  father — but  I  am  the  last  who  should 
complain  of  him.  He  has — ^you  are  a  noble  soul,  Carlos  ;  I 
cast  myself  upon  your  breast — he  has  awakened  hopes  in  me 
which  would  render  giddy  a  soul  less  strong  than  mine.  To 
acquire  a  million  is  great ;  to  throw  it  away  is  godlike — and 
to  be  the  mother  of  this  child,  I  often  think,  must  be  heav- 
enly ;  but  what  will  you  say  to  my  always  talking  of  myself  ? 
what  will  you  say  to  your  satirical  friend  ?  " 

"  My  satirical  friend  ?  " 

Fraulein  Duff  stepped  a  pace  backward,  shaded  ner  eyes 
from  the  rays  of  the  evening  sun  with  her  transparent  hand, 
and  said  with  a  coquettish  smile  : 

"  Carlos,  you  are  playing  false.  Confess  now  you  want  to 
escape  me  by  this  serpentine  turning.  There  is  but  one  here 
to  whom  this  description  applies,  but  he  is  a  giant — in  in- 
tellect !  It  is  immense — sublime  !  it  really  overcame  me ! 
And  you  call  such  a  giant  your  friend,  and  yet  complain  that 
you  are  in  a  prison  !     Oh,  my  dear  friend,  who  would  not 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  321 

willingly  exchange  his  freedom  for  your  imprisonment,  to  win 
such  a  friend  as  this  !  " 

Fraulein  Duff  pressed  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyelids,  and 
then  gave  a  Joud  shriek  as  she  felt  herself  seized  fast  from 
behind,  and  turning  saw  Hermine's  little  spaniel,  who  had 
fastened  his  sharp  teeth  in  the  skirt  of  her  dress,  and  looked 
at  her  with  a  malevolent  expression  in  his  great  black  eyes. 
At  the  same  moment  the  whole  company  came  up,  so  that 
the  governess  had  suddenly  quite  a  concourse  of  spectators 
to  her  combat  with  the  little  long-haired  monster.  I  en- 
deavored to  release  her,  and  only  made  matters  worse ; 
Zerlina  would  not  let  go,  and  shook  and  tore  with  all  her 
strength ;  the  boys  pretended  to  help  me,  and  secretly  urged 
her  on  ;  no  one  could  keep  from  laughing,  and  the  commer- 
zienrath  literally  roared.  Nothing  remained  for  Fraulein 
Duff,  under  these  circumstances,  but  to  swoon  away,  and  fall 
into  the  arms  of  Doctor  Snellius,  who  just  then  came  up, 
attracted  by  the  noise. 

"  Do  not  be  alarmed,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  said  the 
commerzienrath,  "this  happens  three  times  every  day." 

"  Barbarian  ! "  murmured  the  fainting  damsel,  with  pale 
lips,  and  raised  herself  from  the  arms  of  the  doctor,  who, 
despite  the  sublimity  attributed  to  him,  wore  at  this  moment 
a  very  sheepish  look.  Fraulein  Duff  strove  to  cast,  through 
the  tears  that  dimmed  her  water-blue  eyes,  an  annihilating 
look  at  the  mocker,  declined  the  doctor's  proffered  arm  with 
the  words,  "  I  thank  you,  but  I  need  no  assistance  to  the 
house,"  and  hastened  away,  holding  her  handkerchief  to  her 
face,  while  Zerlina  capered  around  her  little  mistress  with 
joyous  barkings  and  triumphant  fiourishings  of  her  bushy 
tail. 

"  I  think  she  will  lose  her  wits  one  of  these  days,"  said  the 
commerzienrath,  as  a  sort  of  explanation  of  the  scene  which 
had  just  occurred. 

"  So  much  the  more  should  you  spare  her,  especially  in 
the  presence  of  others,"  said  the  superintendent. 

I  had  seized  this  opportunity  to  make  my  escape  from  the 
company,  and  was  wandering  about  in  the  farther  walks  of 
the  garden,  when  I  saw  Paula  and  Hermine  approaching  at 
a  little  distance.  Paula  had  laid  her  hand  on  the  little  maid's 
shoulder,  who,  in  her  turn,  had  wound  one  arm  round  her 
14* 


322  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

cousin's  waist.  Hermine  was  looking  up  in  Paula's  face, 
and  speaking  with  great  animation,  while  Paula  smiled  in  a 
friendly  manner,  and  said  from  time  to  time  something  which 
seemed  to  call  forth  vehement  opposition  from  the  little 
maid. 

The  lovely  child  of  ten  years,  with  her  glossy  brown  hair, 
and  her  great  sparkling  blue  eyes,  her  bright  little  face  beam- 
ing with  animation,  and  the  slender  maiden  of  fifteen,  with 
the  gentle  smile  on  her  delicate  lips — both  these  beautiful 
figures  illuminated  by  the  ruddy  glow  of  an  autumn  sunset — 
how  often  has  this  picture  recurred  to  my  memory  in  later 
years ! 

And  now  they  caught  sight  of  me.  I  heard  Paula  say : 
"  Ask  him  then  yourself,"  and  Hermine  answered,  "  And  so 
I  will ! " 

She  let  Paula  go,  came  springing  up  to  me,  stood  before 
me  looking  fearlessly  at  me  with  her  great  eyes,  and  asked  : 

"  Can  you  conquer  lions,  or  can  you  not  ?" 

"  I  think  not,"  I  answered  ;  "  but  why .?" 
"  Yes  or  no  ?"  she  asked,  giving  the  least  possible  stamp  of 
her  little  foot. 

"Well  then,  no!" 

"  But  you  ought  to,"  she  replied,  with  an  indignant  look. 
« I  wish  it." 

"  If  you  wish  it,  I  will  do  my  very  best,  the  first  chance 
that  offers." 

"  Do  you  see,  Paula,"  said  the  little  maid,  turning  to  her 
with  a  triumphant  look.  *'  I  told  you  so  !  I  told  you  so !  " 
and  she  clapped  her  hands  and  sprang  about  like  a  little 
Bacchante,  and  then  ran  scampering  over  the  flower-beds, 
Zerlina  following  her  with  loud  barkings. 

"  What  did  the  ckild  mean  with  her  curious  question  ?  "  I 
asked  Paula. 

"It  seems  that  Fraulein  Duff  keeps  comparing  you  to 
Richard  the  Lion-heart,"  replied  Paula,  with  a  smile. 

"  With  Richard  the  Lion-heart— me  ? " 

"  Yes,  because  you  are  blond,  and  so  tall  and  strong,  and 
a  prisoner  ;  so  Hermine  has  taken  it  into  her  head  that  you 
must  be  able  to  conquer  lions.  Whether  she  is  in  earnest 
or  in  jest,  I  doubt  whether  she  knows  herself.  But  I  wanted 
to  thank  you  for  joining  us  in  the  garden  to-day.     It  was 


Hammer  and  Amdl.  323 

kind  of  you ;  for  I  could  see  that  you  were  not  at  ease  in  the 
company." 

"  And  you,  yourself  ?  " 

"  I  must  not  ask  the  question.     They  are  our  relations." 

"  Of  course  that  excuses  everything." 

I  said  this  not  without  some  bitterness,  with  a  reference  to 
her  friendship  to  Arthur ;  but  I  felt  ashamed  of  myself  when 
she  raised  her  sweet,  gentle  eyes  to  my  face  and  innocently 
asked : 

"  What  do  you  mean  ? " 

Happily  I  was  spared  the  necessity  of  an  answer,  for  Doc- 
tor Snellius  came  up  at  the  moment,  calling  "  Fraulein 
Paula !  Fraulein  Paula !  "  while  he  was  yet  at  a  distance. 

"  I  must  go  in,"  said  Paula ;  "  there  are  many  things  to 
see  to ;  and  I  beg  you  do  not  look  so  angry.  You  have  been 
of  late  not  so  friendly  as  usual ;  are  you  displeased  with 
me  ? " 

I  had  not  the  courage  to  answer  "  Yes  !  "  when  I  looked 
into  the  earnest  fade  that  was  lifted  to  mine. 

"Who  could  be  that?"  I  said.  "You  are  a  thousand 
times  better  than  all  of  us." 

"  That  she  is,  God  bless  her !  "  said  Doctor  Snellius,  who 
had  caught  the  last  words. 

He  looked  after  her  as  she  hastened  away,  and  a  deep  and 
sorrowful  shade  passed  over  his  grotesque  face.  Then  with 
both  hands  he  draped  his  hat  over  his  bald  skull  down  to 
his  very  ears,  and  said  in  a  tone  of  irritation  : 

"  The  devil  tajce  it !  She  is  far  too  good  ;  she  is  so  good 
that  she  can  only  meet  with  trouble.  The  time  is  past — ^if  ; 
there  ever  was  such  a  time — ^when  all  things  worked  together 
for  good  to  the  good  man.  One  must  be  bad — thoroughly 
bad ;  one  must  flatter,  lie,  cheat,  trip  up  his  neighbor,  r^fard 
the  whole  world  as  his  private  inheritance  which  by  n^lect 
has  fallen  into  alien  hands,  and  which  is  to  be  won  back 
again.  But  to  do  this  one  must  be  brought  up  to  it,  and  how 
are  we  brought  up  ?  As  if  life  were  one  of  Gessner's  idylls. 
Modesty,  love  of  our  neighbors,  love  of  truth  !  Let  any  one 
try  it  with  this  outfit !  Is  the  commerzienrath  modest  ? 
Does  he  love  his  neighbor  ?  Does  he  love  the  truth  ?  Not 
one  whit  And  the  man  is  a  millionaire,  and  his  neighbors 
pull  off  caps  when  they  meet  him,  and  fame  proclaims  him 


324  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

one  of  the  noblest  of  human-kind,  because  from  time  to  time 
he  tosses  a  thaler  that  will  not  go  into  his  crammed  purse, 
into  a  poor  man's  hat.  But  you  will  say  he  has  his  punish- 
ment in  his  own  breast.  Much  of  it ! '  He  considers  him- 
self a  thoroughly  good  man,  a  splendid  fellow,  full  of  humor, 
and  when  at  night  he  lies  down  in  his  bed  to  snore  his  eight 
hours,  he  says,  'This  you  have  honestly  earned.'  Away 
with  your  starving,  hectic  honesty !  " 

"  I  did  not  say  a  word  in  its  favor,  doctor." 

"But  while  I  was  declaiming  you  kept  on  smiling,  as  if 
you  would  have  said :  *  But  you  are  dishonest'  Do  you  see, 
that  is  just  my  vexation.  With  this  wretched  bringing-up  of 
ours,  one  is  filled  so  with  honest  notions  that  one  cannot  be 
a  scoundrel,  however  good  his  intentions,  but  has  to  keep 
honest,  in  spite  of  his  better  insight.  And  if  we  cannot  get 
over  this,  how  can  women  ?  " 

The  doctor  looked  fixedly  in  the  direction  in  which  Paula 
had  disappeared,  and  then  took  off  his  great,  round  specta- 
cles, the  glasses  of  which  seemed  to  have  become  dim. 

"You  must  not  abuse  the  women,  doctor,"  I  said. 
"  Fraulein  Duff " 

"  Has  made  me  a  formal  proposal,"  said  Doctor  Snellius, 
hastily  putting  on  his  spectacles,  "  and  here  comes  somebody 
who  will  make  you  one.     Beware  of  this  Greek  in  uniform." 

The  doctor  clapped  his  hat  upon  his  head  and  hurried 
away,  without  returning  the  very  friendly  salute  with  which 
Arthur  approached  us  from  a  side  path. 

"  I  am  glad  that  he  is  gone,"  said  Arthur,  coming  to  my 
side  and  taking  my  arm  just  as  in  old  times  ;  "  I  have  some- 
thing to  say  to  you,  or  rather  I  have  something  to  beg  of 
you  ;  my  father  has  already  done  it,  it  is  true  ;  but  it  can  do 
no  harm  if  I  repeat  it.     You  know  what  I  mean." 

"  Yes,"  I  answered. 

"  I  behaved  like  a  fool,  I  know,"  the  ensign  continued  ; 
"  but  you  must  really  not  think  too  hardly  of  me.     I  thought 

it  was  due  to  this  thing  here "  and  he  gave  his  sword  a 

kind  of  toss  with  his  left  leg. 

"  Arthur,"  I  said,  stopping  and  withdrawing  my  arm,  "  I 
am  not  quite  so  clever  as  you,  but  you  must  not  consider  me 
an  absolute  fool.  You  separated  yourself  from  me,  long 
before  you  had  that  toasting-iron  at  your  side.     You  did  it 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  325 

because  you  had  no  further  use  for  me,  because  it  suited 
your  purpose  to  join  the  hue  and  cry  against  me,  because — " 

"  Well,  yes,"  interrupted  Arthur,  "  I  don't  deny  it.  I  was 
in  such  an  infernally  dependent  position  that  I  had  to  howl 
with  the  wolves.  If  I  had  spoken  out  my  real  feelings,  Le- 
derer  would  have  surely  plucked  me  at  the  Easter  Examina- 
tion, and  my  uncle  would  never  have  paid  foj  my  ensign's 
outfit." 

"And  now,"  I  said,  "  it  seems  the  wind  blows  from  an- 
other quarter,  and  we  must  trim  our  sails  accordingly." 

"  Oh,  hang  it !  "  said  Arthur,  laughing,  "  you  must  not 
bring  a  fellow  to  book  in  that  way.  I  often  say  things  that  I 
cannot  maintain.  You  always  knew  that  was  a  weakness  of 
mine,  and  yet  you  used  to  like  me.  I  have  not  changed, 
and  why  are  you  angry  with  me  all  at  once  ?  You  may  be- 
lieve that  I  am  still  the  same,  notwithstanding  my  new  capar- 
ison, which,  by  the  way,  I  am  not  likely  to  wear  so  very 
much  longer.  It  cost  no  end  of  trouble  to  get  me  the 
appointment ;  the  colonel  told  me  himself  that  he  only  did  it 
out  of  regard  for  my  uncle,  who  was  his  comrade  in  the  war 
for  freedom,  and  that  on  this  account  he  would  shut  his  eyes 
a  little  to  his  duty,  and  take  no  notice  of  the  reports  that 
were  afloat  about  my  father.  But  even  as  it  is  I  am  not  out 
of  the  woods  yet.  Papa's  affairs  are  in  such  a  frightful  con- 
dition that  no  creditor  is  willing  to  give  him  the  least  delay ; 
and  unless  things  now  take  a  favorable  turn,  he  is  ruined, 
and  I  of  course  with  him ;  my  name  will  be  struck  off"  the 
list  of  candidates  for  promotion." 

"  What  is  this  favorable  turn  to  consist  in  ?"  I  asked. 

"Well,  I  don't  precisely  know  myself,"  Arthur  replied, 
decapitating  some  weeds  with  the  scabbard  of  his  sword. 
"  Uncle  Commerzienrath  has  to  pay  over  to  papa  his  share 
of  the  inheritance,  left  by  my  grandfather,  which  papa  has 
never  received ;  and  also  what  is  coming  to  us  from  Uncle 
Malte's  estate.  But  the  old  Judas  will  pay  nothing ;  he  says 
papa  has  been  paid  already  five  and  ten  times  over.  As  I 
said,  I  don't  understand  it ;  I  only  know  that  I  never  re- 
ceived a  groschen  of  cash  from  my  uncle,  and  I  even  envy  my 
servant-fellow,  who  at  least  has  enough  to  eat."  * 

I  took  a  side  look  at  my  old  friend  ;  he  did  look  extremely 
pale  and  thin.     My  own  appetite  had  long  since  recovered 


326  '    Hammer  and  Amnl. 

its  vigor,  and  not  to  have  enough  to  eat,  struck  me  as  a 
most  serious  misfortune. 

"  Poor  fellow !"  I  said,  and  took  his  arm  again,  which  I  had 
previously  let  go. 

"  But  that  is  the  least,"  continued  Arthur,  in  a  querulous 
tone.  "  *  Your  father  is  always  running  in  debt,'  the  colonel 
said ;  *  as  soon  as  I  see  that  you  are  following  in  his  foot- 
steps, we  shall  have  to  part.'  But  I  ask  you  now,  how  with 
a  couple  of  groschen  a  day  can  one  avoid  running  into  debt  ? 
To-morrow  I  have  to  meet  a  little  note  which  a  villain  of  a 
Jew  swindled  me  out  of.  I  spoke  of  it  to  papa  and  to  mamma, 
and  they  both  say  they  have  not  money  enough  to  take  them 
home,  not  to  speak  of  giving  me  any.  I  must  get  out  of  the 
scrape  as  best  I  can.  Very  well  j  I  will  get  out  of  it,  but 
in  another  way." 

And  the  ensign  whistled  softly,  and  assumed  a  look  of 
gloomy  desperation. 

"  How  much  do  you  need,  Arthur  1"  I  asked.      .       ,; 

"  A  mere  trifle — twenty-five  thalers."  .;-- 

"  I  will  give  it  to  you." 

"You?" 

"  I  have  about  so  much  in  the  cashier's  hands  here ;  and 
if  it  falls  a  little  short,  he  will  give  me  credit." 

"  Will  you  really  do  that,  you  dear  good  old  George  ?" 
cried  Arthur,  seizing  both  my  hands  and  shaking  them  again 
and  again. 

"  But  don't  make  such  a  fuss  about  it,"  I  said,  trying  with 
very  mixed  feelings  to  escape  the  ensign's  rather  too  exu- 
berant gratitude.  .  ,  f 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  two  brothers  Von  Zehren,  with  the  commerzienrath, 
were  occupied   for  an  hour  the  next  morning  in  a 
conference  which  was  the  object  of  this  family  gath- 
ering.    The  session  must  have  been  a  lively  one.     The  room 
in  which  they  were  was  just  above  the  ofl&ce,  and  although  the 


.^.tfi 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  327 

house  was  solidly  built,  I  had  more  than  once  heard  the  shrill 
voice  of  the  commerzienratft'  I  felt  a  sort  of  disquiet,  as  if 
my  own  fortunes  were  the  matter  at  stake.  Had  I  not  been, 
by  the  strangest  combination  of  circumstances,  held  as  it 
were  perforce  in  connection  with  this  family  ?  I  had  taken 
an  active  part,  as  a  friend  and  confident,  in  the  most  impor- 
tant events  connected  with  it ;  and  my  own  fate  had  been 
entirely  determined  by  these  events  and  my  relation  to  var- 
ious members  of  the  family.  If  Arthur  had  not  wanted  to 
have  me  with  him  at  the  oyster-feast  on  board  the  Penguin 
that  morning — if  I  had  not  met  the  Wild  Zehren  at  Pinnow's 
that  evening  after  the  scene  with  my  father-^if 

'*  The  gentlemen  upstairs  would  like  to  see  us,"  said  Ser- 
geant Stissmilch,  thrusting  his  gray  head  in  at  the  door. 

"  Well !  "  said  I,  laying  the  pen  from  my  hand,  not  with- 
out a  little  quickening  of  my  pulse. 

"  Well,  what  ?  "  asked  the  sergeant,  coming  in  and  latch- 
ing the  door  after  him. 

"  Well,  I  had  hoped  that  they  would  not  want  me,"  I  said, 
getting  down  from  my  stool  with  a  sigh. 

"Want  you  for  what.?"  asked  the  veteran,  stroking  his 
long  moustache  and  looking  at  me  half  angrily. 

"  It  is  a  long  story,"  I  answered,  adjusting  my  necktie  at 
the  great  inkstand  on  the  table,  which  offered  me  a  very  dis- 
torted reflection  of  myself. 

"  Which  one  need  not  tell  an  old  bear  with  seven  senses, 
as  he  would  not  be  able  to  understand  it,"  answered  the  ser- 
geant, with  a  little  irritation  in  his  tone. 
^    "I  will  tell  you  another  time,"  I  said. 

At  this  moment,  in  the  upper  room,  two  voices  were  raised 
so  high,  and  two  chairs  were  simultaneously  pushed  back 
with  so  much  violence,  that  the  sergeant  and  I  gave  each 
other  an  expressive  look.  The  sergeant  came  close  to  me 
and  said  in  a  confidential  hollow  tone : 

"  Fling  both  those  fellows  down  the  steps,  and  when  they 
get  down  to  me,  I  will  pitch  them  out  of  the  house." 

"  We'll  see  about  it,"  I  answered,  shaking  the  hand  of  the 
old  Cerberus,  who  had  growled  these  last  words  apparently 
from  the  pit  of  his  stomach. 

When  I  opened  the  door  of  the  room  upstairs,  a  peculiar 
spectacle  was  presented  to  my  gaze.     The  superintendent 


328  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

alone,  of  the  three  gentlemen,  sat  at  the  round  table,  covered 
with  papers  of  all  sorts.  The  commerzienrath  stood  with 
one  hand  resting  upon  the  back  of  his  chair,  and  with  the 
other  gesticulating  vehemently  at  the  steuerrath,  who,  like 
one  who  is  eager  to  speak,  and  whose  adversary  will  not  let 
him  get  in  a  word,  stamped  about  the  room,  stood  still,  raised 
his  hand,  tried  to-  speak,  then  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
stamped  about  the  room  again.  No  one  appeared  to  notice 
my  entrance  but  the  superintendent,  who  beckoned  me  to 
him,  and  then  called  the  commerzienrath's  attention  to  my 
presence,  but  it  did  not  interrupt  his  harangue. 

"  And  so,"  he  went  on,  "  I  am  to  lie  out  of  my  money  for 
eighteen  years,  not  receiving  a  groschen  of  interest,  to  have 
such  chicanery  played  on  me  at  last !  You  are  a  man  of 
honor,  Herr  Superintendent ;  a  man  of  honor,  I  say  ;  and  in 
the  whole  matter,  from  the  beginning  until  now,  have  behaved 

as  nobly  as  possible,  but  that  gentleman  there "  and  he 

pointed  his  clumsy  finger  at  the  steuerrath  with  an  energetic 
gesture,  as  if  there  had  been  any  possibility  of  mistaking  the 
person  meant — "  that  gentleman,  your  brother  and  my  brother- 
in-law,  seems  to  have  a  very  peculiar  way  of  looking  at  money- 
transactions.  Oh  yes,  it  would  suit  me  exactly  to  have  my 
goods  paid  for  two  or  three  times  over,  only  there  happen  to 
stand  certain  passages  in  the  law  of  the  country " 

"  Brother-in-law !  "  exclaimed  the  steuerrath,  taking  a 
stride  towards  the  speaker,  and  raising  his  hand  in  a  threat- 
ening manner. 

The  commerzienrath  sprang  with  great  agility  behind  a 
chair,  and  cried :  "  Do  you  expect  to  intimidate  me  ?  I 
stand  under  the  protection  of  the  law " 

"  Don't  scream  so,  Herr  Commerzienrath,"  I  said,  laying 
my  hand  upon  his  right  shoulder,  and  forcing  him  down  into 
his  chair. 

I  had  noticed  that  the  superintendent's  pale  cheeks  were 
growing  redder  and  redder  at  every  word  of  the  furious  man, 
and  the  marks  of  pain  under  his  eyes  were  becoming  more 
and  more  apparent. 

The  commerzienrath  rubbed  his  shoulder,  looked  at  me 
with  an  expression  of  astonishment,  and  was  silent,  just  as  a 
screaming  child  suddenly  stops  its  crying  when  something 
very  extraordinary  happens  to  it. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  529 

The  superintendent  smiled,  and  availing  himself  of  the 
sudden  pause,  said : 

"  I  invited  our  young  friend  to  come  up,  because  I  really 
did  not  know  how  the  question  which  is  the  matter  of  imme- 
diate dispute  could  be  better  or  more  promptly  decided  ; 
for  no  one  can  give  us  surer  information  on  this  point  than 
he.  We  want  to  know,  George,  what  there  was  in  the  house 
at  Zehrendorf :  the  furniture,  the  plate,  and  so  forth  ;  and 
we  should  like  some  account  of  the  condition  of  the  farm 
buildings,  and  as  correct  an  inventory  as  possible  of  the  live 
stock  and  other  property,  if  you  can  inform  us  on  this  point. 
Do  you  think  you  can  do  so  ?  " 

"  I  will  try,"  I  said,  and  gave  them  as  full  an  account  as  I 
could. 

While  I  spoke,  the  little  gray  eyes  of  the  commerzienrath 
were  fixed  immovably  upon  me,  and  I  remarked  that  as  I 
proceeded  with  the  description,  his  puckered  face  cleared  up 
more  and  more,  while  the  steuerrath's  grew  longer  and  more 
confused  in  the  same  proportion. 

"  You  see,  brother-in-law,  that  I  was  right,"  cried  the 
commerzienrath,  "  that " 

"  You  agreed  to  leave  the  management  of  the  matter  to 
me,"  said  the  superintendent ;  and  then  turning  to  the  steu- 
errath  :  "  It  appears,  Arthur,  that  George's  account  agrees 
with  the  inventory  which  the  commerzienrath  had  taken  three 
years  before,  except  such  trifling  differences  as  the  lapse  of 
time  amply  explains " 

"  And  so,"  cried  the  commerzienrath,  "the  money  which 
I  lent  your  deceased  brother  upon  it,  could  scarcely  have 
been  too  little.  As  my  brother-in-law  has  not  yet  given  us 
the  proof  that  the  sum  which  the  deceased  paid  him,  in  the 
year  18 18,  through  my  hands,  was  not  an  indemnification  for 
his  interest  in  the  estate,  he  must  consent  to  admit  that  even 
during  the  life  of  his  brother,  I  was  the  legal  proprietor  of 
Zehrendorf,  and  that  his  pretensions  are  illusory,  entirely 
illusory " 

And  the  commerzienrath  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair, 
puckered  up  his  eyes,  and  rubbed  his  hands  as  if  with  satis- 
faction. 

"  I  should  have  thought,"  began  the  steuerrath,  with  an 
appearance  of  annoyance,  "  that  these  things  were  not  pre- 


33©  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

cisely  suitable  to  be  discussed  in  the  presence  of  a  third 
person " 

I  arose,  with  a  look  at  the  superintendent. 

"Excuse  me,  my  dear  Arthur,"  said  the  latter,  "you  not 
only  were  willing  but  even  desirous  that  we  should  call  in  our 
young  friend  here ;  of  course  it  was  to  be  expected  that  in 
his  presence  many  things " 

" would  be  spoken  of,  which  would  not  be  particu- 
larly agreeable  to  the  Herr  Steuerrath,"  said  the  commer- 
zienrath,  turning  over  his  papers  with  a  malicious  smile. 

"  I  must  entreat  you,  brother-in-law —  "  said  the  superin- 
tendent. 

"  And  I  must  further  request,"  cried  the  steuerrath,  "  that 
these  matters  be  handled  in  a  more  becoming  tone.  If  I 
pledge  my  word  as  a  nobleman  that  my  deceased  brother 
more  than  once  assured  me  that  he  had  parted  with  only  a 
small,  the  very  smallest  part  of  the  Zehrendorf  forest " 

"  So  !  "  cried  the  commerzienrath  ;  "  is  that  your  scheme  ? 
First  it  was  the  house,  then  the  inventory,  now  it  is  the  for- 
est— here  is  the  bill  of  sale." 

"  I  beg  you,"  said  the  steuerrath,  pushing  away  with  the 
back  of  his  hand  the  paper  which  the  commerzienrath  ex- 
tended to  him  across  the  table ;  "  I  have  already  taken  note 
of  it.     This  bill,  moreover,  is  not  indisputable." 

"  It  is  the  handwriting  of  our  brother,"  said  the  superin- 
tendent, in  a  reproachful  tone. 

"  But  expressed  in  such  general  terms,"  replied  the  steu- 
errath, shrugging  his  shoulders. 

"  Was  I  to  have  every  tree  separately  described  ?  "  cried 
the  commerzienrath.  "  It  is  unheard  of,  the  way  I  am  treated 
here.  I  do  not  speak  of  you,  Herr  Superintendent.  You  are 
a  man  of  honor,  every  inch  of  you  ;  but  when  I  am  told  here 
every  moment  that  I  must  respect  the  word  of  a  nobleman, 
and  a  paper  like  this  is  not  of  more  validity,  which  is  a  noble- 
man's word  too,  and  written  with  his  own  hand " 

The  commerzienrath  had  fallen  into  a  querulous  tone. 

"  Perhaps  our  young  friend  here  can  give  us  information 
on  this  point  too,"  said  the  superintendent.  "  Do  you  re- 
member, George,  to  have  heard  anything  from  the  mouth  of 
our  deceased  brother  bearing  upon  the  point  at  issue  ? " 

The  steuerrath  cast  a  quick,  anxious  look  first  at  me  ;  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  331 

commerzienrath  stealthily  watched  me,  and  then  the  steuer- 
rath,  as  if  to  detect  the  signs  of  any  secret  collusion  between 
us  ;  the  superintendent  fixed  his  large,  clear  blue  eyes  upon 
me  with  a  look  of  inquiry. 

"  Certainly  I  can,"  I  answered. 

"  Well  then  ?  "  cried  the  commerzienrath. 

I  told  the  gentlemen  the  expression  which  the  Wild  Zehren 
had  used  when  he  came  to  my  room  the  morning  before  his 
death,  that  of  the  whole  majestic  forest  no  part  belonged  to 
him,  not  even  enough  to  make  him  a  coffin. 

My  voice  faltered  as  I  told  this.  That  morning  when  I 
beheld  for  the  last  time  the  lovely  park  glittering  in  the  glo- 
rious sunshine,  the  portrait  of  the  strange  man  who  knew  him- 
self utterly  ruined,  and  gave  so  passionate  an  expression  to 
his  knowledge — his  attitude,  his  words,  the  tone  of  his  voice 
— all  came  back  to  me  with  irresistible  force  ;  I  had  to  turn 
^  away  to  hide  the  tears  which  sprang  to  my  eyes. 

"  The  question  is  decided  for  me  now,  if  it  were  not  so 
before,"  said  the  superintendent,  rising  and  coming  to  me. 

"  And  for  me  too,"  cried  the  commerzienrath,  with  a  tri- 
umphant look  at  his  adversary. 

"  But  not  for  me,"  said  the  steuerrath.  "  However  dis- 
posed I  am  to  place  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  veracity,  or, 
more  accurately,  in  the  good  memory  of  our  young  friend 
here,  his  recollections  differ  too  widely  from  what  I  have  heard 
from  my  brother's  lips  for  me  to  abandon  the  ground  I  have 
taken.  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  be  so  obstinate,  but  I  cannot 
help  it.  I  owe  it  to  myself  and  to  my  family.  The  last 
eighteen  years  of  my  life  are  a  series  of  sacrifices  made  to 
our  eldest  brother.  But  a  few  days  before  his  tragical  end 
he  appealed  to  me  in  the  most  moving  terms  to  advance  him 
a  considerable  sum  of  money ;  I  ran  about  the  whole  town 
to  get  it  for  him ;  I  came  to  you  also,  brother-in-law,  as  you 
doubtless  remember.  You  refused  me — and,  by  the  way,  not 
in  the  most  delicate  manner.  I  wrote  to  my  unfortunate 
brother  that  I  would  assist  him,  but  he  must  wait.  I  adjured 
him  to  take  no  desperate  resolution.  He  did  not  regard  my 
entreaties.     Had  that  letter  only  not  been  lost !  " 

"  You  have  no  further  occasion  for  me,  Herr  Superintend- 
ent ?  "  I  said,  and,  without  awaiting  his  answer,  left  the  room, 
and  hastened  to  the  office  in  a  state  of  agitation,  at  which 


33*  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

now  I  can  but  smile.  What  had  happened  of  so  much  con- 
sequence ?  A  man,  speaking  of  matters  of  importance,  had 
been  guilty  of  an  audacious  lie.  Later  I  discovered  that  this 
is  not  of  such  rare  occurrence,  and  in  matters  of  business 
lying  has  a  sort  of  charter ;  but  I  was  then  very  young,  very 
inexperienced,  and,  I  may  add,  innocent,  or  my  emotion  at 
this  moment  could  not  have  been  so  violent.  I  stood  in  the 
presence  of  a  thing  to  me  at  once  horrible  and  incomprehen- 
sible. I  could  not  grasp  it.  I  felt  as  if  the  world  was  being 
lifted  from  its  pivots.  Once  before  something  like  this  had 
happened  to  me — when  I  heard  of  Constance's  flight,  and 
learned  that  she  had  deceived  me  and  lied  to  me  ;  but  there 
was  then  still  a  kind  of  palliation  for  her  in  my  eyes ;  the 
passion  of  love,  which  I  could  understand.  But  this  I  did 
not  understand.  I  could  not  conceive  how,  for  a  few 
wretched  hundred  or  thousand  dollars,  one  could  calumniate 
the  dead,  defraud  the  living,  and  roll  one's  self  in  the  mire.  , 
But  one  thing  became  clear  to  me  at  that  moment,  and  all 
my  life  since  I  have  held  to  the  conviction  that  truth  is  not 
a  mere  form,  by  the  side  of  which  another  might  have 
place,  but  that  it  is  like  nature,  the  foundation  and  the 
essential  condition  of  human  existence ;  and  that  every  lie 
shakes  and  upheaves  this  foundation,  as  far  as  its  influence 
reaches. 

Since- then  I  have  discovered  that  this  influence  is  not  so 
extremely  wide  ;  that  as  water  naturally  seeks  its  level,  so 
the  moral  world  continually  strives  to  keep  truth  erect,  and 
to  cancel  the  injurious  effect  of  falsehood. 

But  on  this  morning  this  consolatory  thought  did  not  pre- 
sent itself  to  calm  the  agitation  in  my  heart.  "  Liar,  hateful, 
disgusting  liar ! "  I  murmured  over  and  over  to  myself, 
"  you  deserve  that  I  should  have  you  placed  in  the  pillory  ; 
that  I  should  reveal  the  real  contents  of  the  last  letter  you 
wrote  to  your  brother." 

I  think  that  if  this  state  of  things  had  continued,  I  should 
not  have  been  able  to  resist  the  impulse  to  revenge  Truth  on 
her  betrayer,  however  foreign  to  my  nature  was  the  part  of 
informer.  But  I  now  heard  the  gentlemen  coming  down  the 
stairs,  and  the  next  moment  the  superintendent  entered  the 
office.  His  cheeks  were  now  as  pale  as  they  had  before 
been  flushed ;  his  eyes  were  glassy,  as  those  of  one  who  has 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


353 


just  undergone  an  agonizing  operation  ;  he  tottered  to  a 
chair,  and  sank  into  it  as  I  hastened  to  support  him. 

After  a  minute  he  pressed  my  hand,  assumed  an  erect 
position,  and  said,  smiling : 

"  Thank  you ;  it  is  over  now.  Excuse  this  weakness,  but  it 
has  affected  me  more  powerfully  than  I  had  thought.  Such 
a  dispute  about  yours  and  mine  is  always  the  miDst  disagree- 
able thing  in  the  world,  even  when  one  looks  upon  it  as  a 
mere  spectator  ;  how  much  more  then  when  the  dust  raised 
is  thrown  directly  into  one's  face!  Well,  the  matter  is 
ended.  I  had  proposed  a  compromise  before,  and  they  have 
agreed  to  sign  it.  My  brother,  for  a  very  moderate  indem- 
nification, gives  up  all  his  claims,  which  your  last  words 
deprived,  with  me,  of  all  remains  of  credit.  He  calls  him- 
self a  beggar ;  but  alas  !  he  is  not  one  of  those  beggars  who 
might  take  their  place  by  kings." 

The  pale  man  smiled  bitterly,  and  continued  in  a  low  tone, 
as  if  talking  to  himself: 

"  Thus  the  last  remnant  of  the  inheritance  of  our  ances- 
tors passes  out  of  our  hands.  The  old  time  is  past — ^it  has 
lasted  too  long  !  I  regret  the  forest ;  one  does  not  like  to 
see  the  trees  fall  through  whose  foliage  the  earliest  morning- 
ray  greeted  our  childish  eyes,  and  under  whose  branches  we 
played  our  childish  sports.  And  now  they  will  fall ;  to  their 
new  possessor  they  are  but  wood,  which  he  will  convert  into 
money.  Money  !  True,  it  rules  the  world,  and  he  knows 
it ;  he  knows  that  the  turn  has  come  for  him  and  those  like 
him,  and  they  are  now  the  knights  of  the  hammer.  It  is  the 
old  game  in  a  somewhat  different  form.  How  long  will  they 
play  it  ?     Not  long,  I  trust.     Then " 

He  raised  his  eyes  to  me  with  a  long  loving  look "  then 

will  come  our  turn,  ours,  who  have  comprehended  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  justice,  that  this  justice  cannot  be  trifled 
with,  and  that  we  must  cleave  to  and  desire  with  all  oiu: 
souls  this  justice,  which  is  equity.     Is  it  not  so,  George  ? " 


334  .        Hammer  and  Anvil. 


CHAPTER    XIII 


DOCTOR  WILLIBROb  and  I  had  hoped  that,  now  that 
their  business  was  at  an  end,  the  burdensome  guests 
who  had  so  long  made  the  superintendent's  house  their 
home,  would  take  their  leave  ;  but  our  hope  was  to  be  only 
partially  fulfilled. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  travel  in  the  company  of  a  man  who  has 
made  me  a  beggar,"  said  the  steuerrath. 

"  Fudge  !  "  said  the  commerzienrath,  coming  into  the  of- 
fice that  afternoon,  in  travelling  dress,  to  bid  me  good-by ; 
"  he  has  been  a  beggar  all  his  life.  Would  you  believe  it  ? 
five  minutes  ago  he  was  begging  from  me  again  ;  he  has  not 
the  money  to  take  him  home,  I  must  advance  him  a  hundred 
thalers.  I  gave  them  to  him  ;  I  shall  never  see  them  again. 
By  the  way,  I  must  see  you  again.  Really  I  like  you  better 
every  time  I  see  you  ;  you  are  a  capital  fellow." 

"  You  will  make  but  little  capital  out  of  me,  Herr  Com- 
merzienrath." 

"  Make  capital  ?  N&rj  good  !  "  said  the  jovial  old  fellow, 
and  poked  me  in  the  ribs.  "  We  shall  see,  we  shall  see. 
Your  very  first  movement  when  you  leave  this  place  must  be 
to  my  house.  Will  soon  find  something  for  you ;  am  plan- 
ning all  sorts  of  improvements  on  the  estate — ^here  the  com- 
merzienrath shut  his  eyes — distillery,  brick-yard,  turf-cut- 
ting, saw-mill — ^will  find  a  place  for  you  at  once.  How  long 
have  you  still  to  be  here  ?  " 

"  Six  years  longer." 

The  commerzienrath  puffed  out  his  cheeks.  "  Whew ! 
that  is  an  awful  time.  Can  I  do  nothing  for  you  ?  Could 
I  help  you  up  there  ?     A  little  cash  in  hand,  eh  ?  '^ 

"  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you,  but  cannot  expect  any  ad- 
vantage from  your  exertions." 

"  Pity,  pity  !  Would  have  been  so  glad  to  prove  my  grat- 
itude to  you.  You  have  really  done  me  a  great  service.  The 
man  would  have  given  me  much  trouble.  Would  a  little 
money  be  of  service  to  you  ?  Speak  freely.  I  am  a  man 
of  business,  and  a  hundred  thalers  or  so«are  a  trifle  to  me." 

"  If  we  are  to  part  as  friends,  not  another  word  of  that," 
I  said,  with  decision. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


335 


The  commerzienrath  hastily  thrust  back  the  thick  pocket- 
book  which  he  had  half  drawn  out  of  his  pocket,  and  for  the 
greater  security  buttoned  over  it  one  button  of  his  blue  frock- 
coat. 

"A  man's  free-will  is  his  heaven.  Come  anyhow  and  bid 
my  Hermine  good-by.  I  believe  the  girl  would  refuse  to 
start  if  you  do  not  come  to  the  carriage.  Perhaps  you  will 
not  do  this  either." 

"  Assuredly  I  will,"  I  answered,  and  followed  the  commer- 
zienrath to  the  spiace  in  front  of  the  house,  where  already  the 
whole  family  was  assembled  around  the  great  travelling-car- 
riage of  the  millionaire. 

While  in  his  ostentatious  way  he  was  boasting  of  the  con- 
venience of  the  carriage  and  the  beauty  of  the  two  powerful 
brown  horses,  who  were  lazily  switching  their  long  tails 
about,  and  at  intervals  bidding  farewell  to  the  company  with 
clumsy  bows  and  awkward  phrases,  Hermine  was  flitting  from 
one  to  another,  laughing,  teasing,  romping  in  rivalry  with  her 
Zerlina,  that  seemed  to  be  continually  in  the  air,  and  kept  up 
the  most  outrageous  barking.  In  this  way  she  passed  me 
two  or  three  times,  without  taking  the  least  notice  of  me. 
Suddenly  some  one  touched  my  arm  from  behind.  It  was 
Fraulein  Duff.  She  beckoned  me,  by  a  look,  a  little  to  one 
side,  and  said  hurriedly  and  mysteriously : 

"  She  loves  you  ! " 

Fraulein  Duff  seemed  so  agitated ;  her  locks,  usually  so 
artistically  arranged,  fluttered  to-day  in  such  disorder  about 
her  narrow  face  j  her  water-blue  eyes  rolled  so  strangely  in 
their  large  sockets — I  really  believed  for  a  moment  that  "the 
good  lady  had  quite  lost  her  modicum  of  wits. 

"  Don't  put  on  such  a  desperate  look,  Richard,"  she  said. 

"  '  From  the  clouds  must  fortune  fell, 
From  the  lap  of  the  Immortals.' 

That  is  an  eternal  truth,  which  here  once  more  is  proven. 
She  confessed  it  to  me  this  morning  with  such  passionate 
tears  ;  it  rent  my  heart ;  I  wept  with  her ;  I  might  well  do 
it,  for  I  felt  with  her. 

" '  And  I,  I  too  was  born  in  Arcady, 
But  the  shOTt  spring-time  brought  me  only  tears.'  " 

Fraulein  Duff  wiped  her  water-blue  eyes,  and  cast  a  Ian- 


3^6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

guishing  look  at  Doctor  Snellius,  who  with  a  very  mixed  ex- 
pression of  countenance  was  receiving  the  thanks  of  the 
commerzienrath. 

"  Both  youth  and  man  !  "  she  whispered  : 

*' '  The  rind  may  have  a  bitter  taste, 
But  surely  not  the  fruit.' 

"  Good  heavens !  what  have  I  said  !  You  are  in  possession 
of  the  secret  of  a  virgin  heart.  You  will  not  profane  it. 
And  now,  let  us  now  part,  Richard.  One  last  word  :  Seek 
truly  and  thou  shalt  find  !     I  come,  I  come  !  " 

She  turned  away,  and  waving  the  company  a  farewell  with 
her  parasol,  hurried  to  the  carriage,  in  which  the  commer- 
zienrath had  already  fixed  himself  comfortably,  while  Her- 
mine  held  her  spaniel  out  at  the  door  and  let  it  bark.  Star- 
tled at  Fraulein  Duffs  extraordinary  communication,  I  had 
kept  in  the  background ;  the  wild  little  creature  had  not  a 
single  look  for  him  whom,  according  to  Fraulein  DufTs  re- 
port, she  loved.  She  laughed  and  jested,  but  at  the  moment 
when  the  horses  started,  a  painful  spasm  contracted  her 
charming  face,  and  she  threw  herself  passionately  into  her 
governess's  arms  to  hide  the  tears  that  burst  from  her  eyes. 

"  Rid  of  these,"  said  Doctor  Snellius ;  "  hope  to-morrow 
we  shall  send  the  others  after  them." 

But  the  doctor's  hope  was  not  fulfilled  on  the  morrow,  nor 
yet  on  the  next  day.  Fourteen  days  passed,  and  the  steuer- 
rath  and  the  born  Baroness  Kippenreiter  were  still  the  guests 
of  the  superintendent. 

"  I  shall  poison  them  if  they  don't  leave  soon,"  crowed 
the  doctor. 

"  One  could  turn  to  a  bear  with  seven  senses  on  the  spot," 
growled  the  sergeant. 

It  was  in  truth  a  genuine  calamity  that  had  befallen  the 
house  of  the  excellent  man  ;  and  we  three  allies  bemoaned 
it,  each  in  his  own  way,  but  none  louder  and  more  passion- 
ately than  the  doctor. 

"  You  will  see,"  he  said,  "  these  people  will  take  up  their 
winter-quarters  here.  The  house  is  not  large,  but  the  hedge- 
hog knows  how  to  make  himself  comfortable  with  the  mar- 
mot ;  they  are  well  cared  for,  and  as  for  the  friendliness  of 
intercourse — though  they  care  less  for  that — there  is  no  lack 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


337 


of  it  How  can  Humanus  have  the  patience  ?  He  must 
have  a  Potosi  at  his  disposal.  For  he  suffers,  very  seriously 
suffers,  under  the  hypocritical  spaniel-like  humility  of  this 
brotherly  parasite,  as  does  his  angelic  wife  under  the  sharp 
claws  and  yellow  teeth  of  the  born  Kippenreiter.  Good 
heavens  !  that  we  should  breathe  the  same  air  with  such 
creatures — that  we  must  eat  from  the  same  dish  with  them  ! 
What  crime  Jiave  we  committed  ?  " 

"  The  born  Kippenreiters  would  say  the  same  thing  of  us." 

"  You  want  to  provoke  me,  but  you  are  right.  Doubly 
right ;  for  the  born  Kippenreiters  not  only  say  it  "but  act  ac- 
cordingly, and  forbid  us,  whenever  they  can,  the  air  that  they 
breathe  and  the  dishes  out  of  which  they  eat,  without  in  the 
least  caring  whether  we  suffocate  or  starve  ;  indeed  most 
likely  with  the  wish  that  these  events  may  come  to  pass." 

"  A  contribution  to  the  superintendent's  hammer  and  anvil 
theory,"  I  said. 

The  doctor's  bald  crown  glowed  a  lively  red. 

"  Don't  talk  to  me  of  this  good-natured  folly,"  he  cried,  in 
his  shrillest  tones.  "  Whoever  is  weak  or  good-natured,  or 
both — and  he  most  likely  will  be  both — ^has  been  hammered 
by  the  strong  and  evil-disposed,  as  long  as  the  world  stands  ; 
and  he  will  continue  to  be  hammered  until  water  runs  up-hill 
and  the  lamb  eats  the  wolf  Hammer  and  anvil !  Old  Goethe 
knew  the  world,  and  knew  better." 

"  And  what  would  you  do,  doctor,  if  some  poor  relations 
took  up  quarters  with  you,  and  became  burdensome  to  you 
in  time  ?  " 

"  I  ?  I  would — that  is  a  stupid  question.  I  don't  know 
what  I  would  do.  But  that  proves  nothing — ^nothing  at  all ; 
or  at  the  most  only  that  I,  spite  of  all  my  rhodomontades,  am 
only  a  wretched  piece  of  anvil.  And  finally— yes,  now  I 
have  it !  We  are  neither  relations  nor  connections  of  theirs  ; 
we  have  no  consideration  to  observe,  and  we  must  drive  them 
off." 

"  A  happy  thought,  doctor  !" 

"  That  is  it !"  said  the  doctor,  and  hopped  from  one  leg  to 
other.  "  I  am  ready  for  anything — for  anything !  We 
must  spoil  their  life  here,  embitter  it,  drench  it  with  gall :  in 
a  word,  make  it  impossible." 

"  But  how  ?" 

15 


the  other. 


^;^S  Hammer  and  Anvil. 


a 


How  ?  You  lazy  mammoth  !  Devise  your  own  scheme. 
The  born  Kippenreiter  I  take  upon  myself.  She  thinks  that 
she  has  a  diseased  heart,  because  she  has  a  bad  one.  She 
is  as  afraid  of  death  as  if  she  had  tried  a  week's  experiment 
in  the  lower  regions.     She  shall  believe  me." 

-'  On  the  very  same  day,  Doctor  Willibrod  Snellius  com- 
menced his  diabolical  plan.  Whenever  he  was  within  hear- 
ing of  the  born  Kippenreiter  he  began  talking  of  the  circu- 
lation of  the  blood,  of  veins,  of  arteries,  of  valvular  defects, 
inflammation  of  the  pericardium,  spasm  of  the  heart.  He 
knew,  he  said,  that  such  conversation  must  be  wearisome  to 
her  ladyship,  but  he  was  writing  a  monograph  on  the  subject, 
and  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaks.  Indeed 
he  could  not  deny  that  it  was  not  entirely  without  a  motive 
that  he  had  drawn  her  attention  precisely  to  this  point.  He 
could  not  and  would  not  positively  assert,  without  a  previous 
and  thorough  examination,  that  the  valves  of  her  ladyship's 
heart  were  not  performing  their  functions  regularly ;  but  there 
were  certain  symptoms  of  which  probably  she  might  have 
experienced  one  or  another,  and  prudence  was  not  merely 
the  mother  of  wisdom,  but  often  the  bestower  of,  if  not  a 

Jong  life,  at  least  one  lengthened  by  several  years. 

The  gnadige  was  by  no  means  a  person  to  whom  I  felt  an 
especial  inclination,  and  yet  I  sometimes  felt  a  kind  of  pity 
when  I  saw  how  the  unhappy  victim  twisted  and  writhed 
under  the  knife  of  her  tormentor.  How  could  she  escape 
him  ?  As  a  lady  who  piqued  herself  upon  her  culture,  she 
could  not  well  avoid  a  scientific  conversation ;  as  a  guest  of 
the  house  she  owed  consideration  to  a  friend  of  the  family ; 
and  in  reality  this  topic,  which  she  dreaded  as  a  child  dreads 
goblins,  had  for  her  a  frightful  fascination.  She  turned  pale 
as  often  as  Doctor  Willibrod  entered  the  room,  and  yet  fixed 
her  small  round  eyes  upon  him  with  the  agonizing  look  of 
the  bird  that  sees  a  serpent  gazing  into  its  nest ;  she  could 
not  resist  the  attraction,  and  in  a  minute  she  had  beckoned 
the  fearful  man  to  her  and  asked  him  how  far  he  had  pro- 
gressed with  his  essay. 

"  It  is  enough  to  drive  one  mad,"  said  Doctor  Willibrod  ; 
"  soon  she  will  not  be  able  to  live  without  me  and  my  tales 
of  horror.  I  told  her  to-day  of  the  case  of  a  lady,  exactly  of  her 
age,  her  mode  of  life,  habit  of  body,  and  so  forth,  who,  while 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  339 

conversing  with  her  physician  about  congestions  of  the  heart, 
was  struck  with  one  ;  she  smiles  upon  me  with  pale  lips,  and 
is  on  the  verge  of  fainting — I  suppose  she  is  going  to  ring 
for  her  carriage — and  what  is  the  result  ?  *  You  must  tell 
me  more  about  it  to-morrow,'  she  says,  and  dismisses  me 
with  a  gracious  wave  of  her  hand." 

"She  is  sword-and-bullet-proof,  doctor,"  I  said.  "You 
will  not  be  rid  of  her  so  easily." 

"  But  we  must  be  rid  of  her,  rid  of  the  whole  pack,"  cried 
the  doctor.  "  I  am  resolved  upon  it  as  man,  as  friend,  as 
physician." 

I  laughed,  but  in  my  heart  I  was  entirely  of  the  doctor's 
opinion.  The  presence  of  these  people  was  a  too  intolerable 
burden  for  the  family  of  the  superintendent.  How  could  I 
avoid  seeing  it,  when  I  had  so  attached  myself  to  these 
noble  and  good  souls,  that  I  had  for  everything  that  concerned 
them  the  piercing  eyes  of  the  deepest  and  most  reverent 
affection  ?  I  saw  how  the  superintendent's  face  wore  every 
day  a  graver  look  ;  how  he  forced  himself  to  answer  the  ever- 
lasting "  Is  it  not  so,  dear  brother  ?  "  or,  "  Is  not  that  your 
opinion,  dear  brother  ? "  I  saw  the  painful  contraction  which 
passed  over  the  beautiful  pale  face  of  the  blind  lady,  when 
the  harsh  voice  of  her  talkative  sister-in-law  smote  upon  her 
sensitive  ear ;  I  saw  how  Paula  bore  these,  in  addition  to  her 
other  burdens,  with  silence  and  patience  ;  but  I  also  saw  how 
heavy  a  task  it  was. 

I  was  sitting  one  day  in  the  office,  pondering  all  this  in 
my  indignant  heart,  as  I  cut  up  a  quill  under  pretence  of  mak- 
ing a  pen,  when  through  the  window  which  I  had  left  half 
open  to  admit  one  of  the  rare  sunbeams,  my  ear  caught  the 
hateful  metallic  voice  of  the  born  Kippenreiter. 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  do  me  this  kindness,  dear  Paula  ;  I 
certainly  would  not  ask  you,  for  I  know  how  young  girls  are 
attached  to  their  own  rooms,  but  mine  is  really  too  triste^'\\h 
its  perpetual  outlook  upon  the  prison-walls  ;  and  then  I  am 
afraid  it  is  damp,  especially  at  the  present  season  of  the  year, 
and  with  my  heart-complaint  the  least  rheumatism  would  be 
the  death  of  me.  I  can  count  upon  it,  dear  Paula,  can  I 
not  >     Perhaps  even  to-day  ?    That  would  be  delightful !  " 

"  I  can  hardly  arrange  it  to-day,  dear  aunt ;  I  have  to-day 
to " 


34©  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Well,  then,  dear  child,  to-morrow.  You  see  I  am  con- 
tent with  anything.  And  then  there  is  another  thing  I  want 
to  mention,  and  that  is  the  wine  we  have  at  dinner.  Between 
ourselves,  it  is  not  particularly  good,  and  does  not  agree  witli 
my  husband  at  all.  He  is  a  little  spoiled  in  this.  I  know 
you  have  better  in  the  cellar ;  we  had  some  of  it  when  we 
first  came ;  did  we  not  now  ? " 

"  Yes,  aunt ;  but  unfortunately  there  are  only  two  or  three 
bottles  left,  which  I  am  keeping  for  my  father " 

"  Even  if  there  are  only  two  or  three  bottles,  they  are 
better  than  none.  Good  heavens!  there's  that  man  at  the 
window  again !  One  cannot  take  three  steps  here  without 
coming  across  him." 

These  last  words  were  probably  not  intended  for  my  ear, 
but  my  sense  of  hearing  was  acute,  and  the  voice  of  the 
gnddige  very  distinct  in  its  metallic  ring.  That  they  referred 
to  none  other  than  myself  was  unquestionable  ;  for  beside 
the  fact  that  I  was  a  man,  and  standing  just  then  at  the  win- 
dow, the  gnddige  had  stared  at  me  with  her  fixed  round  eyes, 
in  a  very  ungracious  manner,  and  then  turned  sharply  upon 
her  heel. 

But  it  made  little  difference  to  me  that  I  displeased  the 
gncidige,  or  how  much  I  displeased  her ;  I  thought  only  of 
the  poor  dear  girl  who  wiped  the  tears  from  her  cheeks  as 
she  walked  up  the  garden  path  alone,  after  her  aunt  had  left 
her.  In  a  moment  I  was  down  from  my  ofiice-stool,  out  of 
the  room,  and  had  hurried  to  her  side. 

"  You  must  not  give  up  your  room  to  her,  Paula,"  I  said. 

"You  heard,  then?" 

'*  Yes ;  and  you  must  not  do  it.  It  is  the  only  one  that 
has  a  good  light,  and " 

"  I  will  not  be  able  to  paint  much  this  winter  ;  there  is  too 
much  to  do." 

"  Do  you  really  take  it  for  granted  that  they  are  going  to 
remain  here  all  winter  ? " 

"  I  know  nothing  to  the  contrary.  My  aunt  spoke  of  it 
just  now." 

Paula  tried  to  smile  ;  but  great  as  usually  was  her  self-con- 
trol, this  time  she  could  not  succeed.  Her  mouth  twitched 
painfully,  and  her  eyes  filled  again  with  tears. 

"  It  is  only  on  my  parents'  account,"  she  said,  excusing 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  341 

herself.  "  My  father  just  now  needs  rest  so  extremely,  and 
you  know  how  my  mother  suffers  when  she  has  to  entertain 
them  for  hours  at  a  time.  But  you  must  not  give  any  hint 
of  it,  George  ;  not  even  the  least." 

And  she  laid  her  finger  impressively  on  her  lips,  and  her 
great  blue  eyes  looked  up  anxiously  at  me. 

I  murmured  something  which  she  probably  took  for 
acquiescence,  for  she  gave  me  a  friendly  smile,  and  hastened 
into  the  house,  from  which  resounded  the  shrill  voice  of  the 
gnddige,  who  with  the  whole  power  of  her  lungs — ^which 
were  evidently  in  a  healthy  state — was  calling  out  of  the 
window  to  the  steuerrath,  who  was  standing  in  the  rear  of 
the  garden  among  the  yellowing  leaves  on  the  sunny  espa- 
lier, and  eating  one  of  the  few  peaches  which  the  sup- 
erintendent's unwearying  care  had  won  from  the  ungenial 
climate. 

With  long  strides,  betokening  no  good  to  the  steuerrath,  I 
walked  up  the  path  directly  to  him. 

"Ah  !  "  said  he,  without  desisting  from  his  occupation, 
"  my  wife  has  sent  you,  I  suppose.  But  see  for  yourself  if 
there  is  another  decent  peach  on  the  whole  espalier.  And 
the  trash  is  anyhow  as  sour  as  vinegar." 

"  Then  you  should  not  have  eaten  it." 

"  Well,  at  all  events  it  is  better  than  nothing ;  an  official 
on  a  pension  learns  that  lesson." 

"  Really ! " 

I  accompanied  this  explanation  with  a  contemptuous 
laugh,  which  rudely  startled  the  steuerrath  from  the  delusion 
that  he  was  delighting  me  with  his  genial  conversation.  He 
looked  at  me  with  the  expression  of  a  dog  who  is  undecided 
whether  to  fly  from  his  enemy  or  seize  him  by  the  leg. 

"Herr  Steuerrath,"  I  said,  "I  have  a  request  to  make  of 
you." 

His  indecision  was  at  an  end  in  a  moment. 

"  At  any  other  time  I  will  listen  to  you  with  pleasure," 
said  he  ;  "  but  at  this  moment  I  am  rather  hurried " 

And  he  tried  to  pass  me,  but  I  barred  his  way. 

"  I  can  tell  you  in  three  words  what  I  have  to  say  :  you 
must  leave  this  place." 

"  I  must— what  ?  " 

"  Leave  this  place,"  I  repeated,  and  I  felt  the  angry  blood 


342  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

mounting  to  my  cheeks — "  and  that  at  once  ;  in  three  days 
at  the  furthest." 

"  Young  man,  I  believe  you  have  lost  your  senses," 
replied  the  steuerrath,  making  an  Sffort  to  assume  a  dignified 
look,  which  his  lips,  pale  with  apprehension,  woefully  belied. 
"  Do  you  know  to  whom  you  are  speaking  ?  " 

"  Give  yourself  no  trouble,"  I  said,  contemptuously.  "  The 
times  in  which  you  appeared  to  me  I  don't  know  what  awe- 
inspiring  wonder,  are  long  past.  I  have  no  further  respect 
for  you,  not  the  slightest ;  and  I  will  not  have  you  stay  here 
any  longer  ;  do  you  hear  ?     I  will  not  have  it !  " 

"  But  this  is  unheard-of !  "  cried  the  steuerrath.  "  I  will 
tell  my  brother  what  insults  I  am  exposed  to  here." 

"  If  you  did  that,  I  would " 

I  could  not  bring  myself  to  pronounce  it,  I  had  so  long 
kept  it  sealed  up  in  my  breast.  I  had  two  more  years  of 
imprisonment  for  keeping  it  secret ;  it  was  a  poisoned 
weapon  which  I  was  about  to  use  against  the  miserable  man ; 
but  I  thought  of  the  weeping  face  of  the  dear  maiden,  and 
then  I  looked  into  the  face  of  the  evil  man  before  me,  dis- 
torted with  hate  and  rage,  and  I  dragged  out  the  words 
through  my  clenched  teeth — "  I  would  mention  the  letter 
which  you  wrote  him  " — I  pointed  in  the  direction  of  the 
island — "upon  which  he  undertook  his  last  expedition — of 
the  letter  which  proves  you  an  accomplice,  yes,  the  chief 
criminal ;  and  which  would  have  ruined  you  had  I  not  kept 
the  secret." 

The  man,  while  I  spoke,  seemed  to  shrink  into  himself,  as 
if  he  had  trodden  upon  a  poisonous  serpent ;  with  straining 
eyes  he  watched  every  movement  of  my  hands,  expecting 
every  instant  that  I  w'ould  carrj^  them  to  my  breast-pocket 
and  produce  the  fatal  letter.  "  The  letter  you  speak  of  and 
which  you  have  possessed  yourself  of  by  unlawful  means, 
proves  nothing,"  he  stammered — "proves  nothing  at  all. 
It  is  indifferent  to  me  whether  you  show  it  to  my  brother,  or 
to  any  one  else — any  one  else " 

"  I  cannot  show  it  to  any  one,  for  I  have  burned  it." 

The  steuerrath  almost  bounded  into  the  air.  His  fright 
had  never  given  room  for  the  thought  that  the  letter  might 
have  been  lost  or  destroyed.  How  differently  the  affair  stood 
now! 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  343 

A  smile  of  defiance  passed  over  his  face,  which  once  more 
began  to  assume  its  natural  color. 

"  What  are  you  talking  of,  and  what  do  you  want  ? "  he 
cried,  with  a  hoarse  voice  that  singularly  contrasted  with  his 
usual  oily  speech.  "  The  devil  only  knows  what  kind  of  a 
letter  it  was  that  you  saw — that  you  pretend  to  have  seen. 
The  whole  affair  looks  exceedingly  like  a  lie — and  a  very 
bungling  one  at  that.  Stand  off,  sir !  don't  dare  to  touch 
me,  or  I  call  for  help  ! — and  you  will  have  to  your  seven 
years,  seven  years  more.     Do  not  dare  to  touch  me,  I  say !  " 

My  looks  were  probably  threatening  enough,  for  he  had 
retreated  before  them  to  the  wall,  and  squeezed  himself, 
trembling,  against  the  espalier.  I  stepped  up  close  to  him' 
and  said  in  a  low  tone  : 

"  I  shall  do  you  no  harm,  for — ^miserable  wretch  as  you 
are — I  still  respect  in  you  your  two  brothers ;  the  one  whom 
you  hounded  on  to  his  death,  and  the  other  whose  precious 
life  you  shall  not  embitter  another  hour.  If  no  one  else 
believes  my  word  that  I  read  and  burned  that  letter,  he  will 
believe  it — ^you  know  he  will  believe  it.  And  if  the  njoming 
of  the  third  day  finds  you  here,  he  shall  learn  whom  he  has 
so  long  been  entertaining  under  his  roof.  You  know  him. 
He  can  pardon  much,  and  does  pardon  much  ;  but  to  be  the 
victim  of  such  a  shameless  lie  as  that  which  you  have 
imposed  upon  him,  upon  the  commerzienrath,  and  all  the 
world — that  he  will  never  pardon." 

The  man  knew  that  I  was  right ;  I  saw  it  in  his  face, 
which  grew  absolutely  sharp  and  thin  with  alarm  at  being 
thus  helplessly  in  my  hands. 

And  it  was  high  time  \  one  minute  later  and  my  victory 
would  at  least  have  been  doubtful.  For  from  the  garden 
came  help  for  the  crushed  one.  It  was  the  bom  Kippen- 
reiter,  who  came  calling  out  to  us  from  a  distance  to  save 
her  two  or  three  peaches. 

A  prudent  general  undertakes  no  new  battle  which  may 
jeopard  an  already  hard- won  victory.  I  had  not  quailed 
before  the  wrathful  looks  of  the  steuerrath  ;  but  at  sight  of 
the  yellow  teeth  of  the  born,  I  felt  something  which  I  should 
call  fear,  if  the  respect  we  owe  to  the  sex  could  ever  allow 
such  a  feeling  to  enter  the  breast  of  a  man. 

But  be  that  as  it  might;  when  I  heard  the  light-brown 


344  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

silk  dress  of  the  gniidige  rustling  close  at  hand,  I  considered 
the  moment  especially  suitable  for  hastening,  as  rapidly  as  I 
could  with  politeness,  along  the  paths  strewn  with  dead 
leaves  to  my  office,  after  first  casting  a  last  impressive  look 
upon  my  adversary,  and  saluting  with  a  silent  bow  his  rust- 
ling reinforcement. 

Would  my  threat  prove  effective  ? 

I  had  given  him  two  days  respite,  so  the  decision  under 
all  circumstances  must  speedily  be  made. 

Strange  enough  !  I  was  convinced  that  I  had  acted  only 
from  the  most  disinterested  motives,  and  yet  my  soul  was 
filled  with  disquiet,  and  my  eye  and  ear  were  on  the  alert  for 
any  sign  that  might  tell  me  what  I  had  to  hope  or  to  fear. 
The  next  day  passed — as  far  as  I  could  see,  all  things  re- 
mained as  they  were  ;  Paula's  room,  the  same  in  which  I 
had  lain  sick,  was  emptied  of  its  furniture  ;  I  saw  her  easel 
and  her  portfolios  of  sketches  carried  across  the  hall,  and 
gnashed  my  teeth  to  see  it. 

But  on  the  following  morning  the  superintendent  came 
into  the  office  with  an  unusually  grave  face,  and  after  giving 
me  some  papers,  with  his  hand  already  upon  the  latch,  turned 
and  said  : 

"  Tell  me,  George — ^you  are  quite  disinterested  in  the 
matter — have  you  noticed  anything  in  my  behavior,  or  in 
that  of  any  member  of  my  family,  that  could  give  my  brother 
or  his  wife  reason  to  suppose  that  they  are  not  welcome 
here  ? " 

I  was  drawing  at  the  time,  and  had  just  then  a  very  deli- 
cate bit  of  pen-shading  to  do,  so  I  could  not  raise  my  head 
from  the  drawing-board  as  I  answered  the  superintendent : 

"  I  have  perceived  nothing  of  the  sort." 

"  I  should  trust  not,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  had  a  grieved 
tone.  "  It  would  give  me  pain,  great  pain,  if  I  thought  that — 
if  I  thought  that  my  brother  could  say,  or  even  think,  *  He 
cared  nothing  for  my  misfortune  ;  he  drove  me  away  when  his 
house  was  my  only  asylum.'  For  this,  or  very  near  it,  is  the 
case.  His  pension  is  very  small  for  a  man  accustomed  to 
his  style  of  living  ;  the  compromise-money,  even  with  our 
contribution,  is  little  enough  ;  and,  besides,  he  has  debts  and 
must  work  for  his  living,  and  how  was  he  to  learn  that  in  the 
wretched  routine  of  official  life  ?    They  have  certainly  not 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  345 

brightened  our  home — truth  compels  me  to  admit  it — but  he 
is  my  brother  and  my  guest,  and  I  would  rather  he  were  not 

going." 

Perhaps  his  noble  nature  looked  for  sonie  reassurmg  an- 
swer from  me,  but  the  fine  lines  of  my  bit  of  shading  happened 
just  then  to  be  closer  than  ever,  and  I  had  to  bend  my  head 
still  lower  over  the  drawing-board.  He  sighed  deeply  and 
left  the  room. 

I  drew  a  long  breath  as  the  door  closed  behind  him,  and 
the  next  moment  I  «aw,  in  the  black  mirror  of  the  corpulent 
inkstand  on  the  office-table,  my  tall  figure  reflected  in  gro- 
tesque distortion,  and  performing,  with  arms  and  legs,  move- 
ments which  apparently  represented  a  joyous  dance  of  vic- 
tory, 

"  You  are  monstrously  pleased  at  something,  it  seems," 
said  a  voice  behind  me. 

In  my  fright  I  forgot  one  leg  which  I  had  elevated  in  the 
air,  and  upon  the  other  I  made  a  pirouette  which,  had  it  been 
performed  in  public  before  connoisseurs,  would  have  brought 
down  the  house. 

Arthur  afterwards  became  a  connoisseur  in  these  things,  but 
he  could  not  have  been  one  at  this  time,  for  his  face,  as  he 
threw  himself  into  a  chair,,  was  by  no  means  radiant  with 
delight,  and  the  tone  of  his  voice  was  as  dolorous  as  possi- 
ble as  he  went  on,  resting  his  curly  head  upon  his  hand : 

"  To  be  sure,  you  have  every  reason  ;  you  have  gained 
your  point ;  from  to-morrow  you  are  again  sole  master 
here." 

I  had  by  this  time  brought  my  other  foot  down  to  the  floor, 
and  took  occasion  to  plant  myself  firmly  before  my  antago- 
nist, for  such  I  considered  Arthur.  But  I  was  mistaken. 
Arthur  had  not  come  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  me. 

"  I  have  my  own  reasons,"  he  said,  "for  preferring  that  the 
old  people  should  be  away  from  here.  The  old  man,  you 
know,  has  become  really  disreputable  since  his  misfortune ; 
he  sponges  upon  the  first  man  he  meets.  By  the  way,  I  can 
pay  you  now  the  twenty-five  you  lent  me  the  other  day.  Last 
night  I  had  a  fabulous  run  of  luck — we  had  a  little  play  at 
Lieutenant  von  Serring's  quarters.  Sorry  I  haven't  the 
money  about  me,  but  you  shall  certainly  have  it  to-morrow. 
What  I  was  going  to  say  is  this  :  The  old  man  carries  it  too 
IS* 


346  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

far ;  sooner  or  later  he  would  have  compromised  me  hope- 
lessly. The  colonel  watches  me  frightfully  close.  So  no 
hostility,  George  !  You  have  driven  him  away — don't  deny 
it ;  I  have  it  from  mamma.  She  is  furious  with  you  ;  but  I 
told  her  she  might  congratulate  herself  that  you  were  so  dis- 
creet and  said  nothing  more  about  that  business  of  the  letter. 
So  I  did  not  come  on  this  account,  but  merely  to  ask  you 
how  I  stand  with  you." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ? "  I  asked,  not  without  some  confu- 
sion. 

"  Let  us  have  no  quibbles  about  it,  old  fellow,"  said  the 
ensign,  tapping  the  sole  of  his  left  boot  with  the  point  of  his 
sword,  which  lay  across  his  right  knee  :  "  I  have  estimated 
you  far  too  low.  I  see  now  that  you  are  cock  of  the  walk 
here,  and  I  wish  to  be  on  good  terms  with  you,  not  to  quar- 
rel. If  uncle  did  not  help  me  a  little  I  should  either  have 
to  starve  or  quit  the  service,  and  my  colonel,  moreover,  would 
know  why  I  can  no  longer  visit  here.  You  are  a  good  fellow, 
and  will  not  ruin  me." 

"That  I  certainly  will  not,"  I  said.  I 

"  And  I  am  not  such  a  bad  fellow,  after  all,"  the  ensign  went 
on.  "  I  am  a  little  wild,  I  know ;  but  we  are  all  so  at  our  years, 
and  so  would  you  be  if  you  had  the  chance,  which  you  cer- 
tainly have  not  in  this  cursed  hole.  But  people  can  always 
get  along  with  me,  and  they  are  all  fond  of  me  here  :  my 
uncle,  my  aunt,  the  boys,  and " 

Arthur  took  his  left  foot  from  his  right  knee,  and  said : 

"  Look  here,  George  ;  I  would  not  tell  you  if  I  did  not 
have  the  fullest  confidence  in  your  honor,  notwithstanding — 
in  short,  I  ask  your  word  of  honor  that  you  will  say  nothing 
about  it.  I  fancy  that — but,  as  I  said,  you  must  keep  it  a 
secret — I  fancy  that  I  am  not  quite  indifferent  to  my  pretty 
cousin :  she  said  as  much  to  me  yesterday,  and  even  if  she 
had  not " 

And  the  ensign  twisted  the  blackish  down  on  his  lip,  and 
looked  around  the  room  apparently  for  a  looking-glass,  but 
there  was  none  there.  His  only  substitute  would  have  been 
the  great  inkstand,  which  at  this  moment  I  would  most  joy- 
fully have  dashed  to  ten  thousand  pieces  against  his  pretty 
head. 

"  Arthur ! "  cried  Paula's  voice  in  the  garden  ;  "  Arthur ! " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  347 

The  ensign  gave  me  a  look  that  seemed  to  say :  Do  you 
see  now  what  a  lucky  dog  I  am  ?  and  ran  out  of  the  door, 
which  he  neglected  to  shut  after  him, 

I  remained  quite  stupefied,  and  stared  through  the  open 
garden-door  at  the  long  walk  which  they  were  pacing  up  and 
down,  she  walking  in  her  usual  composed  manner,  and  he 
fluttering  about  her.  Once  they  stood  still ;  she  looked  at 
him,  and  he  apparently  in  protestation,  laid  his  hand  upon  his 
breast. 

An  indescribable  sense  of  pain  entered  my  bosom.  I  knew 
this  feeling  well ;  I  had  once  before  experienced  it,  at  the 
moment  when  I  heard  that  Constance  belonged  to  another  ; 
but  it  was  not  then  so  poignant  as  now.  I  could  have  buried 
my  face  in  my  hands  and  wept  like  a  child.  I  did  not  for  a 
moment  think  that  Arthur  very  probably  lied  to  me  or  to 
himself,  and  perhaps  both.  His  confidence,  Paula's  call,  the 
walk  in  the  garden,  always  empty  at  this  hour — all  came  in 
such  rapid  succession,  and  agreed  so  well,  that  it  was  but  too 
probable.  And  Arthur  was  such  a  desperately  handsome 
fellow,  and  could  be  so  amiable  when  he  chose — I  ought  to 
know  that  best,  I  who  had  so  dearly  loved  him  !  And  had 
not  Paula  been  changed  towards  me  ever  since  he  had  been 
in  the  house  ?  Was  she  not  more  reserved — less  communi- 
cative ?  I  had  noticed  it  for  some  time ;  it  had  pained  me 
before  I  knew  what  had  produced  this  change — now  I  knew 
it! 

Vanity  of  vanities  !  What  claims  had  I  ?  To  what  could 
I  pretend,  an  outcast,  condemned  to  long  years  of  imprison- 
ment ? 

My  head  sank  upon  my  breast.  I  humbled  myself  deep 
in  the  dust  before  the  fair  and  dear  maiden,  who  ever  floated 
before  me  like  a  heavenly  being. 

Then  I  sprang  up  indignant.  Could  she  be  all  that  1 
worshipped  her  for,  if  she  loved  this  man  ? 

Here  was  a  terrible  contradiction  which  apparently  was 
easy  to  solve,  and  which  I  infallibly  would  have  solved,  or 
rather  would  have  altogether  escaped,  had  I  been  a  grain 
wiser  or  more  vain  ;  but  in  which,  as  I  was  neither  wise  nor 
vain,  I  involved  myself  for  years. 

"  Signs  and  wonders  are  coming  to  pass,"  said  Doctor 
Willibrod,  rushing  breathlessly  into  my  cell  one  evening, 


348  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

where  I  sat  in  dejected  meditation  before  the  stove,  and 
watched  the  sparks  that  ran  up  and  down  the  glowing  plates. 
"  Signs  and  wonders  !  They  are  about  to  strike  their  tents 
and  shake  off  the  dust  from  their  feet.     Hosanna  !  "         ^ 

The  doctor  threw  himself  into  a  chair  and  wiped  his  bald 
scalp,  upon  which  the  drops  of  perspiration  were  standing. 

"  Heaven  is  mighty  in  the  weak,"  he  went  on  in  a  tone  in 
which  his  internal  excitement  was  perceptible.  "  Who  would 
have  believed  that  a  little  David  like  myself  would  be  able  to 
pierce  the  brazen  skull  of  this  Goliath  of  shamelessness  ; 
and  yet  such  is  the  fact !  The  gnadige  can  endure  the  air 
here  no  longer ;  she  made  the  last  trial  when  she  moved 
into  Paula's  chamber.  The  trial  did  not  succeed,  and  she 
must  go.     Hosanna  in  the  highest !  "  , . 

"  Did  she  tell  you  so  herself?  "  ' 

"  She  did' indeed  ;  and  her  spouse  confirmed  it,  and  spoke 
of  hypochondriacal  notions  to  which  even  the  most  sensible 
women  are  subject,  and  to  which  a  gallant  husband  must 
make  some  concessions.  Finally  he  drew  me  on  one  side, 
and  on  the  score  of  temporary  deficiency  of  funds,  borrowed 
a  hundred  thalers  from  me  to  enable  him  to  start  at  once." 

"  You  will  never  see  them  again." 

"  The  hundred,  or  the  distinguished  travellers  ?  "  I 

"  Neither." 

"  Pleasant  journey  to  them,  and  may  they  never  cross  our 
path  again  !  " 

The  doctor  sank  into  a  devout  silence  ;  I  think  that  some- 
thing like  a  hymn  of  praise  arose  from  his  heart. 

"  Do  you  know,  they  are  going !  "  resounded  a  deep  voice 
behind  us.  It  was  the  sergeant,  who  came  in  with  a  lighted 
lamp. 

"  Carriage  to  be  ordered  at  Hopp's  livery-stable  to-morrow 
morning  at  the  stroke  of  nine,"  continued  the  veteran. 
"  Eight  would  not  be  too  soon,  one  would  think." 

And  he  joyously  rubbed  his  hands,  and  declared  that  he 
felt  like  a  bear  that  itched  in  all  his  seven  senses.  But  sud- 
denly the  laughter  vanished  from  the  thousand  wrinkles  of 
his  face,  and  leaning  over  the  back  of  the  doctor's  chair  he 
said  in  a  suppressed  voice  : 

"  Now  we  must  drive  away  the  young  one,  doctor  ;  clean 
away !  the  broo^  is  worse  than  the  old  ones,  in  my  opinion." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  349 

"  In  my  opinion  too,"  said  Doctor  Snellius,  springing  up. 
"  I  have  given  the  old  ones  their  dismissal ;  you  must  do  it 
for  the  youngster,  mammoth ;  by  heaven  must  you  !  " 

I  made  no  answer ;  my  gaze  was  fixed  on  the  glowing 
plate,  but  1  saw  it  as  through  a  veil  which  had  somehow 
fallen  over  my  eyes. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

AND  as  if  through  a  veil  I  see  the  years  as  they  come 
and  go,  the   following  years   of  my  imprisonment. 
Though  a  veil  which  time  has  woven  with  invisible 
spirit-hands,  but  not  so  thick  but  what  every  form  and  every 
hue  is  more  or  less  distinguishable  as  I  gaze  backward. 

Clearest  of  all  is  the  fixed  background  in  this  long  act  of 
my  life-drama.  Even  now,  after  so  many  years,  I  can  almost 
always,  by  closing  my  eyes,  recall  the  scene  to  its  minutest 
details.  Especially  are  there  two  lights  un-ler  which  I  see  it 
most  clearly. 

The  one  is  a  clear  spring  morning.  A  blue  sky  spreads  \ 
above,  the  pointed  gables  of  the  old  buildings  soar  as  high 
into  the  free  air  as  if  the  idea  of  a  prison  only  existed  in  the 
dull  brain  of  a  hypochondriac  who  had  not  yet  quite  had  his 
sleep  out ;  about  the  projections  of  the  gables  and  upon  the 
high  roofs  twitter  the  sparrows  ;  and  even  now,  I  cannot  tell 
why,  but  the  twittering  of  sparrows  in  the  early  morning 
makes  the  world  for  me  a  couple  of  thousand  years  younger  ; 
I  fancy  the  scamps  could  not  have  been  more  joyously  and 
impudently  noisy  about  the  hut  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  Para- 
dise. The  sun  ascends  higher ;  his  beams  glide  down  the 
old  ivy-covered  walls  into  the  silent  court ;  and  the  gate- 
keeper, who  is  just  crossing  it  with  a  great  bunch  of  keys, 
and  is  a  crabbed  old  fellow  usually,  whistles  quite  cheerily, 
as  if  even  he,  who  best  knew,  in  this  fresh  morning-world 
could  not  believe  in  locks  and  bolts. 

The  other  light  is  an  evening  in  late  autumn.  Over  in  the 
west,  behind  the  level  chalk-coast  of  the  island,  the  sun  has 


35©  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

set ;  the  heavy  clouds  hanging  over  the  horizon  still  glow 
with  a  thousand  tints  of  sombre  purple.  Cooler  blows  the 
wind  from  the  sea,  and  louder  comes  the  noise  of  the  waves, 
although  looking  from  the  Belvedere,  out  over  the  rampart, 
one  cannot  see  the  surf.  Now  the  wind  begins  to  rustle  in 
the  tall  trees  of  the  garden,  and  companies  of  dry  leaves  flutter 
down  to  those  which  rustle  under  my  feet  as  I  walk  back  to  the 
house.  I  would  be,  on  this  as  on  every  evening,  welcome 
in  the  family  circle ;  but  I  could  not  bear  to  have  so  many 
eyes  looking  kindly  into  mine.  My  eyes  have  been  gazing 
gloomily — yes,  with  despair — at  the  evening  clouds,  and  the 
old  demon  has  awakened  in  me  and  whispered  :  Two  more 
years,  two  long  years  ;  when  one  leap  would  take  you  down 
there,  and  the  first  skiff  carry  you  into  the  wide  world. 
And  you  will  go  back  to  your  prison,  to  the  narrow  walls 
where  nothing  detains  you  but  your  own  free  will.  Your  free 
will !  That  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  free  !  You  have 
sold  it — go !  go  J  pass  the  house — back  to  your  cell  \  away 
out  of  this  fading  world  of  vapor,  and  get  behind  lock  and 
bolt! 

Sunshine  of  spring  mornings,  mist  of  autumn  evenings ;  but 
far  more  morning  sun  than  evening  mist !  Yes,  when  I  think 
well  upon  it,  I  must  admit  that  altogether  morning  sun  was 
the  rule,  and  evening  mist  only  the  exception.  For  how  any 
portion  of  our  life — or,  indeed,  how  the  background  upon 
which  this  portion  is  defined — shall  appear  in  our  memory, 
really  depends  upon  the  fact  of  its  having  been  bright  or 
gloomy  in  our  souls  at  that  time.  And  in  my  soul  at  this 
time  it  was  growing  gradually  brighter  and  brighter,  like  the 
increasing  light  of  dawn  ;  one  knows  not  how  it  is,  but  what 
was  lying  before  us  confused  and  indistinguishable,  now 
stands  in  the  fairest  order. 

The  wish  of  my  fatherly  friend  has  long  been  accom- 
plished :  in  the  workhouse  I  have  learned  to  work.  Work 
has  become  a  necessity  for  me  ;  I  count  that  day  as  lost  on 
the  evening  of  which  I  cannot  look  back  upon  a  vigorously 
prosecuted  or  a  completed  work.  And  I  have  acquired  the 
workman's  faculty  in  every  craft ;  the  quick  comprehension 
of  what  is  to  be  done,  the  accurate  eye,  the  light  forming 
hand.  In  the  establishment  nearly  all  handicrafts  are  exer- 
cised ;  and  I  have  tried  them  nearly  all,  one  by  one,  and  for 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  351 

the  most  part  soon  surpassed  the  old  gray-bearded  adepts. 
The  superintendent  likes  to  repeat  that  I  am  the  best  work- 
man in  the  establishment,  which  makes  me  at  once  both  proud 
and  humble:  proud,  for  praise  from  his  lips  is  to  me  the 
highest  honor  I  can  attain  upon  earth  ;  humble,  for  I  know 
that  I  owe  it  all  to  him.     He  has  guided  into  fixed  paths 
the   rude   strength  that  knew  neither  aim   nor   limit,   and 
wished  to  spend  its  fury  in  the  mastery  of  rough  masses  of 
stone  ;  he  has,  above  all,  taught  me  to  regard  the  share  of 
sound  understanding  which  nature  has  bestowed  upon  me, 
and  which  they  did  not  know  how  to  deal  with  at  the  school, 
as  a  precious  possession  which  may  even  take  the  place  of  a 
bit  of  genius  ;  or,  as  he  often  expressed  it  with  a  smile,  is 
perhaps  a  bit  of  genius  itself.     He  has  never  tormented  me 
with  things  which  he  soon  found  out  would  not  suit  my  brain ; 
he  soon  discovered  that  I  could  never  express  myself  with 
clearness  and  fluency  in  any  other  than  my  native  German 
speech,  and  spared  me  the  learning  of  foreign  languages, 
except  so  far  as  was  absolutely  necessary.     He  knows  that  a 
sublime  passage  in  the  Psalms  produces  in  me  the  deepest 
emotion;  that  I   can   never    satiate    myself  with   reading 
Goethe,  and  Schiller,  and  Lessing ;  but  ne  never  urges  me 
to  go  beyond  this,  and  discuss  the  literature  of  the  day  with 
him  and  Paula.     But  in  recompense  he  allows  me  to  drink 
full  draughts  from  the  inexhaustible  well  of  his  mathematical 
and  physical  knowledge ;  and  his  favorite  recreation  is  to 
have  me  model  a  machine,  or  portion  of  a  machine,  which 
his  inventive  genius  has  devised,  under  his  eye  and  guidance, 
in  the  little  workshop  which  he  fitted  up  for  himself  many 
years  ago. 

Under  his  eyes,  for  his  hands  are  and  must  be  idle  the 
while.  Already  any  physical  exertion,  however  light,  covers 
his  body  with  a  cold  sweat,  and  might  even  seriously  endanger 
his  life.' 

"  I  do  not  know  what  I  should  do  without  you,"  he  says, 
looking  at  me  from  his  chair,  with  a  sad  smile  on  his  face. 
"  I  live  upon  the  superflux  of  your  strength  :  your  arm  is  my 
arm,  your  hand  is  my  hand,  your  deep  full  respiration  is  my 
own.  In  the  course  of  a  year  you  will  leave  me  ;  so  I  have 
but  one  year  to  live  ;  for  a  man  without  arm,  hand  or  breath 
is  dead. 


352  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

It  is  the  first  time  that  so  hopeless  an  expression  has  fallen 
from  his  noble,  pallid  lips,  and  it  gives  me  a  painful  shock. 
I  have  always  seen  him  so  full  of  courage,  so  entirely  occu- 
pied with  the  duties  of  the  day  and  the  hour,  living  h^s  life 
so  completely,  I  look  at  him  with  alarm,  and  for  the  first  time 
I  really  see  the  devastations  which  these  six  years  have 
wrought  in  his"  form  and  in  his  face. 

Six  years  !  I  have  to  think  to  convince  myself  that  they 
are  really  six  years,  so  little  has  changed  in  all  this  long 
time  !  So  little  ?  When  I  consider  it,  perhaps  not  so  little 
either.  The  grape-vines,  which  only  nodded  over  the  win- 
dow when  I  lay  sick  in  Paula's  chamber  six  years  ago,  h^ve 
now  climbed  over  almost  the  whole  building ;  the  great 
honeysuckle-arbor  behind,  where  the  peaches  were  trained 
against  the  wall,  which  I  had  at  that  time  built  and  planted 
with  the  boys,  has  grown  to  a  dense  luxuriance,  and  is  a 
favorite  resort  of  Paula's,  who  from  here  can  see  the  house, 
which  cannot  be  done  from  the  Belvedere. 

The  summer-house  at  the  Belvedere  has  got  rather  a  bad 
name,  which  would  not  have  happened  bad  not  Benno  by 
this  time  grown  six  years  older,  and  read  Faust,  and  so  of 
necessity  must  have  "  a  high-vauhed,  narrow,  Gothic  room," 
which  he  can  "  cram  full  of  boxes,  instruments,  and  ancestral 
chattels  ; "  for  which  purpose  the  ruinous  summer-house 
with  its  pointed  windows  of  stained  glass  seems  to  him  by 
far  the  most  suitable  locality.  Benno  is  now  convinced  that 
his  father,  who  preferred  to  see  in  him  the  future  physician 
or  naturalist,  is  quite  right ;  and  Paula,  who  wished  to  make 
a  philologist  out  of  him,  altogether  wrong ;  and  Benno  must 
know,  for  he  is  at  the  glorious  age  of  seventeen,  in  which 
there  are  but  few  whom  we  do  not  overtop  by  a  head  at  least, 
in  an  intellectual  point  of  view. 

By  so  much  he  overtops  his  younger  brother  Kurt,  in  a 
literal  sense  ;  and  Kurt  has  definitively  abandoned  the  idea 
of  rivalling  his  senior,  who  has  in  so  marked  a  degree  the 
high  slender  stature  of  the  Zehrens,  and  will  evidently  be 
even  taller  than  his  tall  father.  But  Kurt  has  no  cause  to 
complain :  he  has  the  deep  chest,  the  long  powerful  arms, 
and,  under  thick  curly  hair,  the  broad  brow,  of  the  workman. 
He  is  very  modest  and  unpretending ;  but  his  look  is  sin- 
gularly fixed  and  piercing,  and  his  lips  firmly  compressed 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  353 

when  he  is  pondering  over  a  mathematical  problem,  or  trying 
to  learn  some  dexterous  manipulation  at  the  lathe,  in  which 
he  always  speedily  succeeds. 

Kurt  and  I  are  great  friends,  and  as  nearly  inseparable  as 
possible  ;  and  yet  to  tell  the  honest  truth,  the  twelve-year-old 
Oscar  is  my  darling.  He  has  the  large  luminous  brown  eyes 
of  the  Zehrens,  which  I  used  so  to  admire  in  my  friend 
Arthur  when  he  was  a  boy ;  he  has  Arthur's  slender  figure 
and  graceful  manners — I  often  seem  to  see  in  him  Arthur 
again,  as  he  looked  fourteen  years  before.  That  ought  not, 
really,  to  be  any  recommendation  to  me  ;  but  when  he  comes 
bounding  to  me,  throwing  back  his  long  locks,  and  with  joy 
and  life  sparkling  in  his  great  eyes,  I  cannot  help  spreading 
my  arms  to  him.  Often  I  ask  myself  if  it  really  is  this  like- 
ness which  makes  Oscar  still  keep  his  place  as  his  sister's 
favorite.  Paula,  it  is  true,  still  says,  as  she  used  to  say, 
that  there  is  nothing  of  the  sort ;  that  Oscar  is  the  youngest, 
and  therefore  needs  her  most,  and  the  fact  that  he  happens 
to  have  so  decided  a  talent  for  painting  and  drawing,  and  so 
is  peculiarly  her  pupil,  is  a  mere  chance,  for  which  she  is 
not  responsible. 

Just  so  Paula  spoke  six  years  ago  :  I  distinctly  remember 
that  summer  afternoon  when  she  made  that  large  chalk- 
drawing  of  me  under  the  plane-trees — as  distinctly  as  if 
it  had  been  but  yesterday.  And  when  I  look  at  Paula,  I  can- 
not believe  that  I  have  known  her  for  six  years,  and  that 
she  will  be  twenty  next  month.  Then  she  looked  older  than 
she  really  was,  while  now  she  looks  just  as  much  younger. 
She  is  perhaps  a  very  little  taller,  and  her  figure  is  fuller 
and  more  womanly,  but  in  her  sweet  face  is  so  much  child- 
like innocence,  and  even  her  movements  have  still  the  bash- 
fulness,  sometimes  almost  awkwardness,  of  a  very  young  girl. 
But  when  any  one  looks  into  her  eyes,  he  cannot  venture  to 
take  her  for  any  other  than  she  really  is.  These  eyes  do 
not  blaze  with  bold  fire ;  their  glances  are  not  shy  or  lan- 
guishing like  those  of  a  boarding-school  girl  fresh  from 
a  'secret  reading  of  her  favorite  gilt-edged  poet — they  are 
luminous  with  a  calm,  steady,  vestal  fire,  unmindful  of  the 
world,  and  yet  compassing  the  world,  as  the  artist's  eye 
must  beam. 

And  Paula  has  become  an  artist  in  these  six  years.     She 


354  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

has  had  no  teacher,  except  a  decayed  genius  who  was  in  the 
workhouse  for  a  short  time,  and  afterwards  was  supported 
by  the  superintendent's  charity  to  the  time  of  liis  death,  which 
happened  long  ago.  She  has  attended  no  academy,  has 
hardly  seen  a  work  of  art,  eitcept  two  or  three  fine  old  family- 
portraits,  and  a  magnificent  engraving  of  the  Sistine  Ma- 
donna, which  adorn  the  walls  of  the  superintendent's  house. 
What  she  is,  she  has  become  of  herself,  by  means  of  her 
wondrous  eye,  which  looks  into  the  heart,  not  merely  of  men, 
but  of  all  things  ;  by  means  of  her  hand,  which  could  not  be 
so  delicate  and  slender  if  her  soul  did  not 'flow  to  its  very 
finger-tip,  and  render  it  a  plastic  instrument ;  and  by  means 
of  her  diligence,  whose  energy  and  unweariedness  appear 
absolutely  incomprehensible  when  one  reflects  what  a  weight 
of  labor,  besides,  rests  upon  these  tender  shoulders.  But  she 
devotes  every  leisure  moment  to  her  beloved  art ;  and  she 
knows  how  to  find  leisure  at  times  when  others  would 
solemnly  declare  that  they  did  not  know  whether  they  were 
on  their  heads  or  their  feet.  The  wealth  of  her  collection 
of  studies  of  all  kinds,  sketches,  designs,  copies,  is  wonder- 
ful. There  is  not  an  interesting  head  among  the  prisoners 
Dr  convicts  that  has  escaped  her.  To  sit  to  the  young  lady 
is  an  honor  and  favor  much  sought  after  and  much  envied 
throughout  the  whole  establishment,  and  proud  is  the  man 
who  can  boast  of  it.  But  her  chief  model  is  the  old  Siiss- 
tnilch,  whose  grand  head  with  its  short  gray  locks,  and  fur- 
rowed energetic  face,  is  really  a  treasure  to  an  artist's  eye. 
rhe  old  fellow  figures  under  all  possible  characters :  as 
Nestor,  Merlin,  Trusty  Eckart,  Belisarius,  Gotz  von  Berlich- 
ingen — even  as  Schweizer  out  of  The  Robbers ;  mere  studies 
all  for  great  historical  pictures  of  which  the  brave  girl  is 
dreaming  in  the  future.  In  the  meantime  but  one  of  these 
das  appeared  upon  canvas  :  Richard  the  Lion-heart,  sick  in 
tiis  tent  and  visited  by  an  Arab  physician.  The  scene  is 
from  Scott's  Talisman.  In  the  background  is  an  English 
y^eoman,  who  looks  sorrowfully  at  his  sick  lord,  and  a  young 
N'orman  noble,  who,  with  hand  on  his  sword,  fixes  a  k^en 
md  suspicious  look  upon  the  physician.  Richard  the  Lion- 
leart  is  myself,  as  she  sketched  me,  when  a  convalescent,  at 
:he  Belvedere  ;  in  the  Arab  physician,  a  singular,  fantastic, 
jnome-like  figure — Dr.  Willibrod  declares  he  discovers  his 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  355 

own  likeness,  though  the  Arab  wears  no  spectacles,  and  his 
head,  though  bald  without  doubt,  is  wound  about  with  the 
green  turban  of  the  Hadji ;  the  yeoman  is  Sergeant  Silss- 
milch,  drawn  to  the  life,  though  he  has  accommodated  him- 
self to  another  costume ;  the  knight,  with  short  brown  hair 
and  bright  brown  eyes — a  handsome,  graceful,  youthfully 
elastic  figure — is  Arthur. 

Is  it  an  accident  that  just  this  figure  is  most  fully  elabo- 
rated, almost  to  completeness,  and  that  it  is  made  so  lovely? 

I  have  no  means  of  answering  this  question,  except  what  I 
draw  from  my  own  foreboding  soul.  Arthur,  who  has  long 
been  a  lieutenant,  and  has  been  stationed  this  spring  at  the 
military  school  in  the  capital,  has  often  visited  the  house,  it 
is  true,  but  the  frequency  of  his  visits  diminished  with  every 
year,  and  I  could  not  say  that  he  had  sought  to  draw  any 
nearer  to  Paula.  But  there  must  have  been  some  reason 
that  towards  me,  who  had  done  him  no  injury,  who  always 
treated  him  in  a  friendly  manner,  however  little  heart  I  had 
sometimes  for  it,  he  became  constantly  more  and  more 
reserved,  and  at  last  avoided  me  as  far  as  possible.  The 
money  which  he  owed  me,  and  which  in  the  course  of  years 
had  increased  to  a  sum  by  no  means  insignificant  for  my  cir- 
cumstances, could  not  be  the  cause,  for  I  had  given  it  to  him 
willingly  and  cheerfully — he  is  always  in  difficulties,  and 
resolved  to  blow  out  his  brains — never  asked  for  repayment, 
but  always  assured  him  that  I  was  in  no  hurry  for  it ;  no,  it 
cannot  be  the  money.  Does  he  fear  a  rival  in  me  ?  Good 
heavens!  I  can  hardly  be  a  dangerous  rival.  Who  could 
fear  a  prisoner,  whose  future  is  a  book  with  seven  seals,  and 
scarcely  containing  one  pleasant  chapter  ?  Can  he  never 
forgive  me  that  Paula  is  always  as  kind  and  friendly  to  me 
as  ever  ?  Have  I  not  deserved  that,  who  do  all  I  can  for 
her,  and  read  her  lightest  wish  in  her  eyes  ? 

I  do  not  know ;  as  little  do  I  know  if  it  is  chance  that 
Paula,  from  the  hour  that  Arthur  went  to  Berlin,  painted  no 
more  on  the  picture.  And  yet  for  this  purpose  she  needs 
him  least  of  all,  for  his  knightly  copy  only  lacks  a  few 
touches.  I  ponder  the  reason  over  and  over.  And  as  I 
venture  once  to  ask  Paula  about  it,  she  answers,  not  with- 
out some  hesitation,  which  is  a  rare  thing  with  her : 

"  I  have  lost  all  pleasure  in  the  picture." 


3S6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

This  leads  to  a  question  which  seems  even  worse  than  the 
first,  and  which  I  had  better  leave  unmeddled  with,  if  I  were 
prudent. 

But  I  am  not  prudent,  and  cannot  get  It  out  of  my 'head; 
and  as  my  head  can  make  nothing  of  it,  I  lay  it  before  Doc- 
tor Willibrod  in  a  quite  casual  manner,  as  if  nothing  really 
depended  upon  the  answer: 

"  Tell  me,  doctor,  why  has  Friiulein  Paula  lost  all  pleasure 
in  her  picture  ?  " 

"  Who  says  that  ?  "  asked  the  doctor. 

"She  herself."  ; 

"Then  ask  herself." 

"  If  I  wished  to  do  or  could  do  that,  I  would  not  need 
your  opinion." 

"  Why  should  I  have  any  opinion  in  the  matter  ? "  cries 
the  doctor.  "  What  does  it  concern  me  why  Paula  does  not 
choose  to  work  on  the  thing  any  longer  ?  Since  nature  her- 
self has  not  thought  fit  to  finish  me,  I  do  not  care  whether  I 
am  finished  in  the  picture  or  not." 

I  see  that  I  make  no  progress  in  this  way,  so  I  venture  to 
hint  that  perhaps  Arthur's  absence  has  had  an  influence 
upon  Paula's  feelings  in  the  matter. 

"  Does  the  cat  come  to  the  porridge  at  last  ?  "  crows  Doc- 
tor Willibrod.  "  Oh,  he  thinks  that  we  have  not  long  seen 
how  he  licks  his  paws  !  And  the  porridge  is  so  sweet — so 
sweet !  just  like  the  thought  that  such  a  girl  can  give  her  heart 
to  such  a  fellow.  '  It  is  impossible,'  says  Master  Tom,  and  his 
whiskers  bristle  with  distress.  Why,  impossible  ?  What  is 
impossible  ?  Is  the  life  of  her  father  anything  but  a  pro- 
tracted sacrifice  ?  Is  she  not  her  father's  daughter  ?  When 
one  is  once  well  under  way,  a  little  more  or  less  makes  no 
difference ;  and  the  lamb  offers  itself  up  to  save  the  wolf 
Oh,  it  is  a  merry  business,  that  of  saving  wolves  !  But  still 
merrier  is  it  to  stand  by  and  look  patiently  on — not  to  seize  a 
club  and  rush  in — oh  by  no  means  !  but  merely  to  ask  from 
time  to  time  :  '  Don't  you  think,  respected  sir,  that  the  wolf 
will  eat  the  Iamb  at  last  ? '  Get  away  from  me  all  of  you 
that  wear  human  faces  !  " 

Doctor  Willibrod  crows  so  high,  and  looks  so  exactly  like 
the  apoplectic  billiard-ball  we  have  heard  of,  that  I  am  sorry 
to  have  begun  the  conversation,  and  that  too  so  unskilfully. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  357 

I  now  recollect  that  lafely  the  doctor  has  always  seemed 
curiously  excited  whenever  in  any  way  Paula's  name  hap- 
pened to  be  mentioned.  Often  he  speaks  of*  her  in  such  a 
way  that  one  would  think  he  hated  her,  if  one  did  not  know 
that  he  worships  her.  If  any  one  reproaches  him  with  it,  he 
lays  the  blame  on  the  heat  of  the  weather.  The  fiend  him- 
self, who  is  used  to  a  warm  climate,  might  perhaps  keep  cool  in 
such  a  temperature,  he  sayS,  but  no  one  can  blame  mere  men 
if  they  now  and  then  lose  their  wits  a  little  at  eighty  degrees 
in  the  shade. 

And  really  during  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  the  heat 
has  grown  absolutely  intolerable.  Day  after  day  the  sun 
traverses  a  cloudless  steel-blue  sky,  and  its  beams  prostrate 
everything  they  touch.  The  grass  has  long  been  burnt  up  ; 
the  bastion  and  ramparts  are  yellow-brown  ;  the  flowers 
have  prematurely  withered  ;  the  foliage  rustles  from  the  trees 
before  the  time.  All  living  things  creep  about  with  heavy 
gaze  fixed  up)on  the  earth,  and  the  air  quivers  as  above  a 
heated  oven.  The  health  of  the  town  has  been  seriously 
affected,  and  we  are  glad  that  the  boys  who  now  have  holi- 
day, are  on  a  visit  to  some  friends  of  the  family  at  a  neigh- 
boring country-place.  The  state  of  things  in  the  prison  is 
by  no  means  satisfactory  to  the  superintendent  and  the  doc- 
tor, who  vie  with  each  other  in  attention  to  the  sick,  though 
the  doctor  steadily  maintains  that  it  is  the  height  of  folly  to 
risk  one's  skin  for  the  sake  of  other  people. 

"  And  then  beside,  when,  like  Humanus,  one  has  but  half 
a  lung,  and  a  blind  wife  and  four  children,  and  not  a  shilling 
of  capital — ^what  will  come  of  that  V^ 

I  remember  that  the  doctor  put  this  question  to  me  in  this 
very  same  conversation,  and  that  I  repeated  it  to  myself  an 
hour  later  as  I  stood  alone  before  the  Belvedere,  and,  with- 
out either  seeing  or  hearing,  stared  out  at  the  evening  sky, 
which  I  could  see  from  over  the  rampart  extending  down  to 
the  sea.  I  did  not  see  that  over  the  sky,  which  for  weeks 
together  had  shown  not  the  slightest  haze,  a  vapor  had  now 
spread  itself  through  which  the  evening  light  had  a  ghastly, 
pallid  look ;  I  did  not  hear  that  strange  wailing  sounds  were 
passing  through  the  air  ;  I  did  not  even  turn  round  when  a 
deep  voice  close  at  my  ear  growled  out  the  very  question 
which  I  was  occupied  in  trying  to  solve : 


358 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"  What  will  come  of  that  ?" 

It  was  the  old  SUssmilch,  who  coming  to  my  side  pointed 
with  his  right  hand  to  the  sulphurous  glare  in  the  west. 

"  A  storm,  what  else  ?"  I  replied,  scarcely  noticing  what  I 
said. 

I  felt  that  the  oppressive  sultriness,  which  was  weighing 
down  my  soul  as  well  as  all  nature,  must  expend  itself  in  a 
storm.  .    . 


CHAPTER    XV. 


AND  there  came  a  storm  such  as  had  not  raged  along 
this  coast — which  yet  throughout  the  year  heard 
many  a  fierce  gale  sweep  over  its  low  beach  of  sand 
and  chalk — within  the  memory  of  man. 

It  was  about  midnight,  when  I  was  awakened  by  a  crash- 
ing as  of  thunder,  making  the  old  house  quiver  to  its  founda- 
tions, and  followed  by  a  rattling  and  clattering  of  falling 
tiles,  and  of  slamming  doors  and  shutters,  like  the  crackle  of 
musketry  following  the  heavy  discharge  of  a  battery. 

This  was  the  storm  that  had  so  long  been  announcing  its 
coming.  My  first  thought  was  of  those  in  the  house  in  the 
garden.  With  a  single  bound  I  was  out  of  my  bed  and 
dressed,  as  the  sergeant  thrust  his  gray  head  in  at  my  door. 

"  Already  up  ?  "  said  he  ;  "  but  this  is  enough  to  rouse  a 
bear  with  seven  senses.     He  will  be  awake,  too." 

The  old  man  did  not  say  who  would  be  awake ;  between 
us  two  it  was  not  necessary. 

"  I  was  just  going  to  him,"  I  said. 

"  Right,"  said  the  old  man.  "  I  will  stay  here  the  while. 
Somebody  will  be  needed  here  who  has  his  head  on  his 
shoulders.  It  is  a  most  diabolical  state  of  things  ;  worse 
than  eight  years  ago  ;  and  then  the  men  would  not  be  kept 
in  their  dormitories.  A  little  more  and  we  should  have  had 
murder  done." 

During  this  brief  conversation,  the  tremendous  shocks  had 
been  twice  repeated,  and,  if  possible,  with  still  greater  vio- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  359 

lencc.  Add  to  this  a  howling  and  an  uproar — we  had  to 
speak  almost  in  a  shout  to  make  ourselves  heard.  This  was 
in  the  room — what  must  it  then  be  outside  ? 

This  I  learned  a  minute  later,  as  I  crossed  the  prison 
court.  A  pitchy  darkness  lay  like  a  thick  black  pall  over 
the  earth  ;  not  a  star,  not  the  faintest  gleam  of  light.  The 
hurricane  raged  between  the  high  walls  like  a  beast  of  prey 
that  finds  himself  for  the  first  time  in  a  cage.  Despite  my 
strength  and  the  momentum  of  my  heavy  frame,  I  had  to 
struggle  with  the  monster  that  flung  me  this  way  and  that. 
Thus  I  fought  my  way  through  the  thick  darkness,  among 
the  tiles  that  came  clattering  from  the  roofs,  to  the  superin- 
tendent's house,  out  of  the  windows  of  which  here  and  there 
a  light  was  visible. 

In  the  lower  hall  I  met  Paula.  She  was  carrying  a  lighted 
taper  in  her  hand,  and  its  light  fell  upon  her  pale  face  and 
large  eyes,  which  filled  with  tears  as  she  saw  me. 

"  I  knew  you  would  come,"  she  said.  "  It  is  a  fearful 
night.  He  insists  on  going  over  to  the  prison  ;  and  he  has 
been  so  very  unwell  lately.  I  dare  not  ask  him  to  stay. 
Indeed,  he  must  go  if  his  duty  commands.  It  is  very  kind 
of  you  to  come." 

The  tears  that  had  glistened  in  her  eyes  now  slowly  rolled 
down  her  pale  cheeks. 

"  Do  not  laugh  at  me,"  she  said,  "  but  for  several  days  I 
have  felt  as  if  some  misfortune  were  about  to  happen." 

•'  We  have  all  felt  so,  dear  Paula.  It  is  merely  a  bit  of 
egotism  to  fancy  that  a  thunder-storm  which  is  now  hanging 
over  thousands  and  thousands  is  to  smite  precisely  us." 

I  meant  to  say  this  very  courageously  ;  but  my  voice  quiv- 
ered, and  at  the  last  words  I  was  forced  to  turn  away  my  eyes 

"  I  will  go  to  your  father,  Paula,"  I  said. 

"  Here  he  comes  now,"  said  Paula. 

The  superintendent  stepped  out  of  his  room.  Before  he 
had  gently  closed  the  door,  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  white 
figure  which  he  seemed  by  gentle  words  and  gestures  to  be 
urging  to  remain  in  the  room.  It  was  Frau  von  Zehren. 
Had  she  also  the  feeling  that  some  calamity  was  impending? 
Perhaps  even  more  strongly  than  we.  Who  among  us  who 
see,  hears  the  faint  spint-voices  that  whisper  and  murmur 
through  the  night  of  the  blind  t 


36o 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


A  deep  melancholy  lay  upon  his  features  ;  but  it  instantly 
gave  place  to  a  surprised  smile  as  he  saw  us  both  sta4iding 
there.  It  was  as  when  one  walks  through  a  dark  rocky  ravine 
whose  sombre  shadows  spread  a  gloom  over  his  face,  and 
suddenly,  at  a  shirp  turn  of  the  dusky  path,  he  sees  the  open 
valley  at  his  feet,  and  a  wide  flood  of  golden  sunlight  streams 
all  about  him. 

"  See  there,  both  my  dears  ones  !  "  he  said. 

He  extended  both  hands  to  us. 

"  Both  my  dear  ones,"  he  repeated. 

Did  he  really  see  us  ?  Did  he,  out  of  the  rocky  gorge, 
catch  a  gleam  of  sunny  vales  in  the  future  ?  I  have  often 
asked  this  question  of  myself,  when  thinking  of  the  happy 
spirit-like  look  with  which  at  this  moment  the  father  saw  his 
beloved  daughter  at  the  side  of  the  man  who  was  dear  to  him 
as  a  son. 

But  this  was  but  for  a  moment,  and  the  present  then 
resumed  its  rights.  | 

"  You  will  go  with  me,  George,"  he  said ;  "  I  must  go 
through  the  prison.  It  cannot  be  but  that  the  excitement 
which  has  been  growing  on  us  all  lately  has  also  seized  the 
poor  prisoners.  And  with  them  excitement  means  howls, 
and  shrieks,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Do  you  remember  that 
September  night,  eight  years  ago,  Paula  ?  It  was  not  so  ter- 
rible as  this,  and  the  men  were  like  maniacs." 

Paula  nodded  assent.  "  I  remember  it  well,  father,"  she 
said.  "  How  could  I  help  it  ?  You  suffered  so  much  from 
the  consequences  afterwards.  Here  comes  Doris  with  the 
lantern,"  she  hastily  added,  while  a  flush  of  shame  suffused 
her  cheeks  at  having  for  a  moment  attempted  to  dissuade 
her  father  from  his  duty. 

She  took  the  great  lantern  with  its  two  lighted  candles 
from  the  hands  of  the  frightened  girl,  and  gave  it  to  me. 
The  superintendent  gave  her  a  kind  look  from  his  large 
grave  eyes,  buttoned  up  his  coat,  fixed  his  hat  firmly  on  liis 
head,  and  turning  to  me  said  :  "  Come,  George." 

We  stepped  out  into  the  raging,  thundering  night.  In  my 
left  hand  I  carried  the  lantern ;  my  right  arm  I  gave  the 
superintendent.  I  had  thought  thar  I  should  have  to  carry 
or  almost  to  carry  him,  as  he  had  been  completely  pros- 
trated by  the  heat  of  the  last  few  weeks ;  and  indeed  his 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


361 


first  steps  were  heavy  and  tottering  as  those  of  a  man  who  has 
for  the  first  time  risen  from  his  bed  after  a  long  illness.  All 
at  once  he  let  go  my  arm  and  stood  firm  and  erect  : 

"  Do  you  hear,  George  ?     I  said  so  !  " 

We  were  just  passing  under  the  windows  of  one  of  the 
great  dormitories,  in  which  fully  a  hundred  prisoners  were 
shut  up  at  this  hour.  The  light-colored  wall  was  faintly  de- 
fined against  the  darkness  ;  from  the  windows  came  a  feeble 
light  -y  the  storm  raged  against  the  wall  and  whistled  shrilly 
through  the  gratings  ;  but  louder  than  the  howling  and 
whistling  of  the  storm  were  the  horrible  noises  that  came 
from  the  interior  of  the  building.  Such  sounds  might  come 
from  lost  souls  in  the  night  of  Tartarus. 

"  Light !  light !  "  was  the  cry.     "  We  want  light !  " 

"  Quick,  George !"  said  the  superintendent,  hastening  on 
before  me  with  such  rapid  strides  that  I  had  difficulty  in 
keeping  up  with  him.  We  passed  through  the  open  door 
into  the  wide  hall,  where  we  found  the  sergeant  in  lively  dis- 
pute with  the  inspector  and  half-a-dozen  overseers. 

"  He  will  tell  you  that  I  am  right,"  I  heard  the  brave  old 
man  cry.  "  One  must  be  a  bear  with  seven  senses  ;  not  able 
to  tell  a  tooth-pick  from  a  barn-door  !  In  the  name  of  three 
million  devils,  light  all  the  lanterns  !" 

"  Yes ;  light  all  the  lanterns,"  said  the  superintendent, 
coming  up. 

The  men  stepped  respectfully  back,  only  the  Inspector 
said  sullenly  :  "  There  is  no  reason  for  breaking  the  regular 
rule  of  the  house,  Herr  Superintendent ;  and  the  men  know 
that  there  is  no  reason ;  but  they  take  advantage  of  the 
chance — that  is  all." 

"Perhaps  not  quite  all,  Herr  Mttller,"  said  the  superin- 
tendent. "  We  two,  you  and  I,  have  not  been  sitting  with  a 
hundred  others  in  a  locked  room  in  the  dark — or  as  good  as 
in  the  dark — and  in  a  night  like  this  when  it  is  as  if  the  end 
of  the  world  had  come.  Fear,  like  courage,  is  contagious. 
Follow  me,  you  and  Sflssmilch,  and  two  others  to  light  the 
lanterns." 

He  did  not  name  me :  he  may  have  thought  it  a  matte5.of 
course  that  I  would  follow  him.  We  turned  into  the  corri- 
dor and  reached  the  door  which  led  to  the  great  ward,  the 
windows  of  which  we  had  passed.  "Light!  light!"  they 
16 


)   1| 


ll 


362  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

were  still  shrieking  inside,  and  heavy  blows  fell  upon  the 
oaken  door,  which  cracked  at  intervals  as  if  they  yvere  trying 
to  burst  it  open. 

"  Open  !"  said  the  superintendent  to  the  turnkey. 

The  man  cast  a  stealthy  look  at  the  inspector,  who  looked 
sullenly  at  the  ground. 

"  Open  !"  repeated  the  superintendent. 

With  hesitation  the  man  placed  the  key  in  the  lock,  and 
drew  the  heavy  iron  bar  from  the  staples.  With  hesitation 
he  threw  back  the  first  and  then  the  second  bolt.  As  he 
laid  his  hand  upon  the  third,  he  gave  a  furtive  glance  at  the 
superintendent,  upon  whose  lips  played  a  smile. 

"  Why,  your  heart  is  usually  in  the  right  place,  Martin,"  he 
said. 

In  an  instant  Martin  had  thrown  back  the  bolt ;  the  doors 
were  opened.  The  frightful  spectacle  that  was  then  pre- 
sented to  my  eyes  I  shall  never  forget,  though  I  should  at- 
tain the  age  of  the  most  patriarchal  raven. 

Three  or  four  feet  behind  the  door  was  another,  a  grating 
of  iron,  reaching  as  high  as  the  ceiling  ;  and  behind  this 
grating  was  a  frightful  entanglement  of  men  piled  upon  one 
another,  conglomerated  together — here  a  pair  of  arms  thrust 
out,  there  a  pair  of  legs,  as  out  of  a  heap  of  corpses,  flung 
together  into  a  promiscuous  grave  upon  a  field  of  battle ; 
with  the  difference  that  this  mass  moved,  writhed  internally, 
and  out  of  it,  here  and  there  and  everywhere,  glared  living 
eyes,  terrible,  fierce,  desperate,  maniac  eyes. 

"  Men !  "  cried  the  superintendent,  and  his  usually  soft 
voice  rose  with  a  power  that  overbore  the  tumult,  "  are  you 
not  ashamed  of  yourselves  ?  Would  you  rush  upon  destruc- 
tion to  avoid  a  danger  which  nowhere  exists  but  in  your  own 
heads,  and  in  the  darkness  around  you }  " 

Was  it  the  courageous  voice  ?  Was  it  the  look  of  the  man  ? 
Was  it  the  efiect  of  the  strong  light  which  was  thrown  upon 
the  mass  from  the  lanterns  of  the  turnkeys  ?  the  coil  disen- 
tangled itself,  arms  found  their  way  to  bodies,  legs  stood 
again  upon  their  feet,  even  the  eyes  lost  their  frenzied  glare, 
and^  here  and  there  a  man,  either  dazzled  or  ashamed,  cast 
them  down. 

"  Make  room  for  the  door  to  be  opened,  men  ! "  said  the 
superintendent.  , 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  363 

They  fell  back :  the  grating  was  opened  ;  the  superin- 
tendent entered,  and  we  followed. 

"  Now  see,  children,  how  foolish  you  are,"  he  continued, 
in  a  friendly  tone.  "  There  you  stand  in  you  shirts,  freezing, 
shivering — you  really  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourselves. 
Get  to  bed  again,  or  else  dress  yourselves  and  sit  up  ;  I  will 
have  your  lanterns  lighted,  so  that  each  one  of  you  can  see 
what  a  chicken-heart  his  neighbor  is,  and  what  a  bold  fellow 
he  is  himself'' 

The  men  looked  at  one  another,  and  over  more  than  one 
face  that  had  been  distorted  with  terror  there  came  a  smile. 
In  the  rear  two  laughed  out  loud. 

"  That  is  right,"  said  the  superintendent,  "  laugh  away  ; 
no  devil  can  hold  his  own  against  an  honest  laugh.  And 
now  good-night,  children,  I  must  look  after  the  others." 

By  this  time  the  overseers  had  let  down  and  lighted  the 
four  great  lanterns  that  were  drawn  up  to  the  ceiling.  A 
cheerful  brightness  filled  the  large  room.  Outside,  the  storm 
was  raging  and  howling  as  before  ;  but  a  kindly  word  falling 
into  these  dark  spirits  had  appeased  the  storm  within. 

"  Let  us  see  after  the  others,"  said  the  superintendent. 

And  we  traversed  the  echoing  corridors,  in  which  this 
night  the  noise  from  without  overpowered  the  sound  of  our 
steps.  Wherever  we  came  we  found  the  prisoners  in  a  state 
of  the  most  fearful  excitement— excitement  beyond  all  pro- 
portion to  the  causes  which  produced  it ;  ever)rwhere  the 
same ;  sometimes  vented  in  wild  curses,  and  sometimes  in 
the  most  piteous  supplications ;  but  everywhere  the  cry  of  the 
poor  wretches  for  light,  only  more  light  in  the  fearful  night 
But  everywhere  the  superintendent  succeeded  in  quieting  the 
wild  creatures  with  his  calm  words,  except  the  occupants  of 
one  ward,  who  either  would  not  or  could  not  be  quieted. 
This  ward  lay  in  a  wing  of  the  building  which  was  more  ex- 
posed to  the  violence  of  the  blast  than  any  other,  and  here, 
in  consequence,  the  storm  burst  with  all  its  fury.  The  ter- 
rific detonations,  like  peals  of  thunder,  with  which  the  tem- 
pest burst  against  the  ancient  walls,  the  furious  howling  with 
which  it  whirled  around  the  angles,  after  striving  frantically 
for  minutes  together  to  sweep  the  obstruction  out  of  its  path  \ 
the  wailing,  lamenting,  gasping,  sobbing  tones  that  came,  no 
one  knew  how  or  whence — all  was  frightful  enough  to  fill  the 


364  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

soul  of  even  a  free  man  with  secret  horror.  And  even  while 
the  superintendent  was  speaking  to  them,  a  chimnfcy  on  one 
of  the  higher  buildings  adjacent  was  blown  down,  and  in  fall- 
ing broke  through  the  roof  of  this  wing,  sending  clattering 
down  hundreds  of  tiles,  increasing  the  uproar,  if  not  the  dan- 
ger. The  men  demanded  to  be  let  out ;  they  would  come 
out  at  every  cost ;  they  were  resolved  not  to  be  buried  alive. 

"  But,  children,"  said  the  superintendent,  "  you  are  safer 
here  than  anywhere  else ;  there  is  not  another  part  of  the 
building  so  strong  as  this." 

"  Very  well  for  him,"  muttered  a  square-built,  curly-headed 
fellow  ;  "  he  can  go  home  and  sleep  in  his  soft  bed." 

"  Give  me  your  mattress,  friend,"  said  the  superintendent. 

The  fellow  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

"  Your  mattress,  friend,"  he  repeated.  "  Lend  it  to  me 
for  to-night :  I  will  see  if  it  is  so  hard,  and  if  it  is  such 
dreadful  sleeping  here." 

A  deep  silence  suddenly  succeeded  the  wild  tumult.  The 
men  looked  at  each  other  in  confusion  ;  they  did  not  know 
whether  this  was  jest  or  earnest.  But  the  superintendent 
did  not  move  from  the  place.  He  stood  there  silent,  thought- 
ful, with  head  depressed ;  no  one,  not  even  I,  ventured  to 
speak  to  him.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  audacious  fellow, 
who  looked  as  if  he  had  been  condemned  to  death,  and  was 
about  to  be  led  to  execution.  His  mutinous  spirit  was 
broken ;  silently  he  went  and  took  up  his  mattress  and 
brought  it  to  the  superintendent. 

"  Lay  it  there,  my  friend,"  said  the  latter.  "  I  am  tired ;  I 
thank  you  for  providing  me  a  resting-place." 

The  man  spread  out  the  mattress  upon  the  floor  ;  the 
superintendent  laid  himself  upon  it  and  said : 

"  Now  lie  down,  all  of  you.  You,  Herr  M  filler,  go  to  the 
infirmary  and  see  if  I  am  needed  there.  You  remain  with 
me,  George." 

The  inspector  went,  with  the  turnkeys ;  the  door  was 
closed  and  locked  ;  we  were  alone. 

Alone  among  about  eighty  convicts,  for  the  most  part  the 
worst  and  fiercest  criminals  in  the  whole  prison. 

The  lanterns  that  hung  from  the  ceilings  cast  a  dim  light 
over  the  rows  of  beds  which  were  arranged  along  the  walls, 
and  in  three  long  lines,  extending  the  length  of  the  ward. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  365 

The  men  had  either  lain  down,  or  were  crouching  upon  their 
beds.  The  man  who  had  given  his  mattress  to  the  superin- 
tendent might  have  done  the  same,  for  there  were  some  half- 
dozen  of  vacant  beds  in  the  ward ;  but  he  seemed  afraid 
to  occupy  any  one  of  them,  and  crouched  upon  the  bare  floor 
in  a  dark  corner.  I  stood  with  folded  arms  against  the 
stone  pillar  which  supported  the  centre  of  the  roof,  looked 
at  the  strange  spectacle  before  me,  and  listened  to  the  storm 
which  raged  without  with  unabated  fury.  The  superintend- 
ent lay  quite  still,  his  head  supported  by  his  hand.  He 
slept,  or  seemed  to  sleep  ;  and  yet  I  fancied  that  from  time 
to  time  a  shiver  shook  his  frame.  The  room  was  warm,  but 
we  had  been  thoroughly  drenched  by  the  rain  in  crossing 
the  court ;  he  had  no  covering,  and  had  just  risen  from  a 
sick  bed.  What  will  be  the  end  ?  I  sighed  in  the  depth  of 
my  heart. 

Suddenly  a  man  near  me,  who  had  several  times  turned 
his  head  towards  the  superintendent,  arose  from  his  bed, 
walked  softly  with  bare  feet  to  me,  and  whispered  : 

"  He  must  not  lie  there  in  that  way  ;  it  will  be  his  death." 

I  shrugged  my  shoulders  :  "  What  can  we  do  ?  " 

And  then  another  came  up,  and  another  rough  voice  whis- 
pered : 

"  He  must  go  home.  Why  should  he  lie  here  freezing  for 
the  sake  of  that  shock-headed  rascal  ?  It  shall  not  be  our 
fault." 

"  No,  it  shall  not  be  our  fault,"  murmured  other  voices. 
In  a  moment  a  crowd  has  collected  around  me,  and  increases 
every  moment  Not  one  of  these  men  was  sleeping,  any 
more  than  myself.  All  had  the  same  thought  in  their  rude 
hearts.  They  want  to  repair  their  misbehavior,  and  do  not 
know  how  to  go  about  it.     One  finds  a  way  at  last : 

"  He  shall  go  himself  and  beg  him." 

"  Yes  ;  that  shall  he  !  " 

"Where  is  he?" 

"  Back  yonder." 

"  Bring  him  along !  " 

They  rush  to  the  corner  where  the  fellow  is  crouching  , 
a  dozen  strong  hands  lift  him  to  his  feet ;  they  drag  him  to 
the  superintendent,  who  raises  himself  from  his  hard  couch 
as  they  approach.     The  light  of  the  nearest  lantern  falls 


366 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


full  in  his  pale  face,  shadowed  by  his  dark  hair  and  beard. 
A  happy  smile  plays  about  his  mouth,  and  his  i  large  eyes 
beam  with  strange  light. 

"  I  thank  you,"  he  said,  "  I  thank  you.  The  hours  which 
your  kindness  bestows  upon  me  shall  be  devoted  to  you. 
But  one  thirtg  more,  children  !  This  man  here  is  myself : 
what  you  do  to  him,  you  do  to  me." 

The  man  had  sunk  upon  his  knees  before  him  ;  he  laid 
his  hand,  as  in  blessing,  upon  his  bushy  head  ;  and  then  we 
turned  to  the  door.  I  cast  a  look  back :  not  one  of  the 
men  had  moved  from  his  place.  All  eyes  are  fixed  upon 
the  superintendent,  who  is  leaving  the  ward,  supported  by 
my  arm.  But  I  doubt  whether  all  see  him  ;  for  in  many 
eyes  are  glistening  tears. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


IT  was  two  o'clock  when  we  re-entered  the  house.  At 
the  first  touch  of  the  bell  Paula  appeared  in  the  hall ; 
but  the  superintendent  only  gave  her  an  affectionate 
smile  and  a  pat  on  the  cheek,  and  kept  on  to  his  chamber, 
whither  I  followed  him.  He  did  not  speak  to  his  daughter, 
because  he  could  not  speak.  His  face  was  of  a  corpse-like 
paleness,  and  deep  red  spots  burned  in  the  hollows  of  his 
cheeks.  With  a  motion  of  his  hand  he  asked  my  assistance, 
and  I  helped  him  to  undress.  As  soon  as  he  was  in  bed  he 
turned  his  eyes  upon  me  with  a  look  of  gratitude,  and  then 
closed  them  in  death-like  exhaustion. 

I  took  my  seat  by  his  bedside,  and  could  not  avert  my 
eyes  from  the  pale,  noble  face.  A  sublime  calm  lay  upon  it ; 
even  the  red  spots  had  vanished  from  the  cheeks ;  no  move- 
ment betrayed  that  in  this  breast,  that  scarcely  moved,  a 
heart  was  beating,  that  under  this  lofty  brow  dwelt  a  spirit ; 
I  felt  as  though  I  was  watching  by  a  corpse. 

Thus  solemnly  and  slowly  passed  the  hours  of  that  night. 
In  all  my  life  I  have  never  met  with  a  stronger  contrast  than 
that  of  the  calm  face  of  that  sleeping  man  with  the  wild  fury 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  367 

of  the  storm  that  raged  without  with  unabated  violence. 
Well  might  he  sleep  ;  the  mightiest  pinion  of  an  earthly- 
storm  could  not  soar  to  the  blessed  heights  where  his  spirit 

was  floating.  .  t. 

Involuntarily  my  thoughts  recurred  to  the  night  when  the 
smuggler,  who  had  just  become  a  murderer,  lay  wounded  in 
my  arms  in  that  hollow  in  the  ruin,  writhing,  cursing  God, 
himself,  and  all  the  world.  And  that  man  was  the  brother 
of  this  ?  It  seemed  incredible  that  one  mother  could  have 
brought  forth  two  such  different  beings ;  that  the  same  sun 
could  shine  on  two  men  so  unlike  ;  and  then  again  it  seemed 
to  me  that  both,  the  wild  one  and  the  gentle,  the  hater  and 
the  friend  of  men,  were  one  and  the  same  person  ;  as  if  I  had 
once  already  seen  the  pale  face  before  me  ;  as  if  it  were  the 
same  face  upon  whose  brow,  pallid  in  death,  the  morning 
sun  shone,  as  it  rose  ruddy  out  of  the  sea  after  that  night  of 
horror  in  the  ruin  on  the  cliff. 

But  these  thoughts  were  but  the  wild  fancies  of  one  over- 
come by  weariness.  I  must  indeed  have  really  slept  for 
a  while,  for  as  I  raised  my  head  again  the  gray  twilight  was 
glimmering  through  the  lowered  curtains.  The  superintend- 
ent was  still  lying  there  as  he  had  lain  all  night,  his  eyes 
closed  and  his  white  hands  folded  over  his  breast.  I  softly 
arose  and  crept  out  of  the  room.  I  had  to  breathe  fresh  air  j 
I  felt  that  I  must  try  to  shake  off  the  weight  that  pressed 
upon  my  heart. 

As  I  crossed  the  silent  hall  I  was  surprised  to  see  that 
the  hand  of  the  great  clock  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  pointed 
to  eight.  I  had  supposed,  from  the  dim  light,  that  it  was 
not  more  than  five  or  six.  But  as  soon  as  I  stepped  out  of 
doors,  I  saw  why  it  was  no  lighter.  The  black  pall  which 
had  lain  over  the  earth  in  the  night  was  now  changed  to  a 
gray  one — a  pallid  twilight,  that  was  neither  night  nor  day. 
And  the  fury  of  the  storm  was  still  unabated.  As  I  turned 
the  sheltering  corner  of  the  house,  I  had  to  plant  myself 
firmly  on  my  feet  in  order  not  to  be  dashed  to  the  earth 
Thus,  crouching  down,  I  made  my  way  through  the  garden, 
now  a  scene  of  devastation.  There  lay  trees  torn  up  by  the 
roots,  and  others  broken  off  but  a  few  feet  from  the  ground. 
The  path  was  strewn  with  branches  and  twigs,  and  the  air 
filled  with  whirling  leaves.     Only  the  old  plane-trees  at  the 


368  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Belvedere  still  resisted  the  storm,  and  their  majestic  boughs 
were  lashed  wildly  about  by  the  blast.  I  made  my  way  to 
the  Belvedere,  the  only  spot  from  which  one  iould  obtain  a 
view,  though  but  a  limited  one,  of  the  stormy  quarter.  I 
feared  that  the  old  summer-house  would  not  have  been  able 
to  resist  the  tempest ;  but  there  it  still  stood — doubtless  the 
high  bastion  had  protected  it.  I  hurried  into  it  for  shelter  ; 
and  as  I  hastily  threw  open  the  door  I  saw  Paula  standing 
at  one  of  the  narrow  windows,  on  the  side  facing  the  sea. 

"  You  here,  Paula  ?  "  I  cried  in  alarm.  "  You  here  in 
this  weather,  when  the  house  may  come  down  at  any  mo- 
ment !  " 

"  How  is  my  father  ?  "  asked  Paula. 

"  He  is  sleeping,"  I  said.     "  You  have  not  slept." 

I  saw  that  by  her  pale  cheeks  and  the  dark  circles  round 
her  eyes.  She  looked  away  from  me,  and  pointed  out  of  the 
window  at  which  we  were  standing,  which  now  was  but  a 
window-space^  for  the  storm  had  blown  in  all  the  stained 
panes  except  one  in  one  corner. 

"  Is  that  not  terrible  ?  "  she  said. 

And  it  was  terrible  indeed.  Sky  and  sea  of  a  leaden  gray, 
and  between  sea  and  sky  whirling  white  specks  like  snow- 
flakes  driven  by  a  November  wind.  These  white  specks 
were  gulls,  and  their  dismal  cries  reached  us  at  intervals. 
Upon  the  high  bastion,  opposite  us,  the  storm  had  beaten 
down  the  tall  grass  which  used  to  nod  so  lightly  in  the  wind, 
as  flat  as  if  heavy  rollers  had  passed  over  it ;  and  over  the 
long,  low  rampart  from  time  to  time  appeared  streaks  which 
at  first  I  could  not  account  for.  Could  they  be  the  crests 
of  waves  ?  The  thing  seemed  impossible.  The  rampart,  as 
I  knew,  was  more  than  twelve  feet  high,  and  in  front  of  it 
was  a  wide  sandy  beach,  on  which  a  popular  bathing-estab- 
lishment had  been  erected.  Over  the  rampart  a  glimpse  of 
the  sea  might  always  be  caught,  but  it  was  at  a  considerable 
distance  ;  but  these  streaks,  if  they  were  waves,  were  not 
dancing  out  at  sea  ;  I  saw  plainly  how  they  rose,  fell,  tum- 
bled over,  and  beaten  to  foam  and  spray  flew  over  the  ram- 
part. It  was  the  surf,  and  the  surf  had  risen  to  the  crest  of 
the  rampart ! 

"  What  will  come  of  it  ?  "   asked  Paula. 

It  was  the  very  question  which  I  had  asked  myself  yester- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  369 

day  evening  at  this  identical  place,  though  in  another  and 
very  different  sense.  I  was  then  only  thinking  of  her  who 
now  stood  before  me,  and  looked  up  to  me  with  large,  terri- 
fied eyes  ;  but  in  my  spirit,  confused  by  the  sleepless  night 
I  had  passed,  nature  and  human  destiny  mingled  inextricably 
together : 

"  Paula,"  I  said. 

She  glanced  up  to  me  again. 

"  Paula,"  I  repeated,  and  my  voice  trembled  and  my  hand 
sought  hers,  "  if  the  storm  of  life  ever  rages  around  you  as 
that  is  raging — will  you  turn  to  me  for  help  and  protection  "i 
Will  you,  Paula  ?  say  !  " 

A  bright  flush  reddened  her  pale  cheeks  ;  she  drew  her 
hand,  which  I  did  not  venture  to  detain,  out  of  mine. 

"  You  are  one  of  those  good  men,  George,  who  desire  to 
help  all,  and  upon  whom,,  therefore,  all  think  they  have 
claims." 

"  That  is  not  an  answer,  Paula,"  I  said. 

She  opened  her  lips  to  speak  ;  but  I  was  not  to  learn  if 
the  unfavorable  construction  I  had  given  her  words  was  the 
right  one  or  not,  for  at  this  moment  a  blast  smote  the  sum- 
mer-house, tearing  off  the  roof,  and  driving  in  the  remaining 
sashes,  that  fell  in  shivers  around  us.  I  caught  Paula  around 
the  waist  and  sprang  with  her  out  of  the  house,  which  fell 
with  a  crash  the  instant  we  had  quitted  it  Paula  gave  a 
shriek  of  terror,  and  clasped  me  convulsively.  My  heart 
bounded  with  joy  when  I  thus  held  the  dear  maiden  in  my 
arms ;  but  she  released  her  hold  immediately. 

"  What  weaklings  we  women  are,  after  all !  "  she  said. 
"  You  men  must  think  that  we  exist  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  be  protected  by  you." 

As  she  said  this  there  was  an  indignant  expression  in  her 
large  eyes  and  her  brow  ;  but  her  lips  twitched  with  hardly- 
repressed  weeping. 

What  was  passing  in  her  thoughts  at  that  moment  "i 

I  did  not  learn  this  until  years  later. 

We  went — or  rather,  struggled — ^back  to  the  house.  No 
further  word  was  spoken  between  us,  nor  did  she  take  my 
arm,  which  I,  for  my  part,  did  not  venture  to  offer  her. 
Would  she  have  rejected  the  arm  of  another  as  well  ?  I  asked 
myself. 

16* 


370  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

With  a  sadness  that  I  had  never  felt  before,  I  was  sitting 
an  hour  later  in  the  office.  How  could  I  work  with  this 
disquiet  in  my  heart,  with  this  weight  upon  my  bAin,  and  on 
such  a  day  as  this  ?  But  "  first  do  your  work,  everything 
else  will  come  in  in  its  place,"  was  the  word  of  the  superin- 
tendent, and  in  accordance  with  this  word  I  seated  myself  at 
my  work,  and  copied  lists  and  examined  accounts  without 
making  a  single  error  in  my  figures.  I  had  well  spent  my 
long  apprenticeship  :  I  could  now  say  that  I  had  learned  to 
work. 

It  was  noon  when  I  went  to  the  superintendent  to  place 
the  papers  I  had  prepared  before  him  for  his  signature. 
When  I  reached  the  ante-room  of  his  cabinet  I  stopped,  for 
through  the  half-opened  door  I  heard  some  one  speaking 
within. 

*'  It  is  a  grand  opportunity,"  said  an  unctious  voice, 
which  of  late  years  had  been  less  frequently  heard  in  the 
superintendent's  house — "  a  glorious  time,  a  time  of  the  Lord, 
who  reveals  himself  in  storm  and  tempest,  to  awaken  the 
heart  of  sinful  man  from  its  obduracy.  Let  us  rightly  under- 
stand this  time,  Herr  Superintendent,  and  not  let  the  Lord 
appeal  to  us  in  vain." 

"  You  will  excuse  me  if  I  do  not  share  your  view,  Herr  von 
Krossow.  I  have  this  night  had  an  example  of  the  frenzy 
to  which  superstitious  terror  drives  these  wild  souls.  If  you 
wish  to  explain  to  the  men  these  phenomena  of  nature,  I  am 
most  willing  to  aid  you  in  the  undertaking  ;  but  I  see  no  ad- 
vantage in  a  general  prayer-meeting,  and  must  therefore,  I 
regret  to  say,  decline  to  permit  it." 

The  superintendent  said  this  in  his  calm,  convincing  man- 
ner, but  it  did  not  seem  to  convince  his  antagonist.  A  brief 
pause  succeeded,  and  the  soft  voice  began  again  : 

"  I  forgot  to  mention  that  the  president,  from  whom  I  have 
just  come,  and  to  whom  I  imparted  my  intention,  entirely 
agreed  with  my  views,  and  even  expressed  the  wish  that  the 
bells  might  be  rung  in  all  the  churches,  and  the  congrega- 
tions assembled  for  prayer.  He  cannot  fail  to  feel  it  very 
sensibly  if  here — just  here — ^his  authority  is — ^what  shall  I 
say  ? — disregarded." 

"  I  am  afraid,"  replied  the  superintendent,  "  that  many 
more  will  find  themselves  to-day  compelled  to  refuse  the  cus- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  371 

ternary  respect  to  the  authority  of  the  president;  I  fear  that 
the  bells  will  be  rung,  not  to  call  the  people  to  the  churches, 
but  to  summon  them  to  work.  Unless  the  storm  soon 
abates  there  will  be  much  work  and  hard  work  to  do  before 
night." 

At  this  moment,  through  the  roar  of  the  storm,  was  audi- 
ble a  lamentable  tone  as  if  coming  from  the  clouds,  followed 
by  other  dismal  sounds  of  wailing  and  crying,  and  suddenly 
the  door  leading  into  the  hall  was  thrown  open,  and  the 
doctor  rushed  breathlessly  in. 

"  It  is  as  we  expected,"  he  panted,  hurrying  past  me  into 
the  superintendent's  room,  into  which  I  followed  him  in  ex- 
citement which  had  something  better  in  it  than  mere  cu- 
riosity. 

"  It  is  as  we  expected,"  he  repeated,  taking  off  his  specta- 
cles and  wiping  from  his  face  the  wet  sand  and  other  drift 
with  which  he  was  covered  from  head  to  foot.  "  In  an  hour, 
or  two  hours  at  most,  the  water  will  be  over  the  rampart,  un- 
less a  breach  first  happens,  which  is  to  be  feared,  in  more 
than  one  place." 

"  What  precautions  are  being  taken  ?  " 

"  They  are  sitting  with  hands  in  their  laps — is  not  that 
enough  ?  I  hurried  to  the  chief  of  police  and  to  the  presi- 
dent to  entreat  them  to  send  every  man  that  could  use  his 
arms  to  the  rampart,  and  to  order  back  the  battalion,  which 
marched  out  to  parade  two  hours  ago,  because  no  counter- 
mand arrived — can  you  conceive  such  madness  ! — and  is  now 
struggling  and  buffeted  upon  the  road,  unless  the  storm  has 
blown  them  all  into  the  ditches  long  ago,  which  is  more  prob- 
able. Under  all  the  circumstances  they  cannot  be  far,  and 
would  soon  be  back  if  a  couple  of  mounted  couriers  were 
sent  after  them.  They  are  more  wanted  here  than  in  the 
ditches.  All  this  I  laid  before  the  gentlemen.  What  do 
you  suppose  the  chief  of  police  answered  me  ?  He  had  been 
a  soldier  himself,  and  knew  that  an  officer  must  obey  his 
orders.  It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  battalion  would 
be  recalled  at  his  request.  And  the  president — ^that  pre- 
tended saint — what  is  it  ?  O,  Herr  von  Krossow,  you  here  ? 
I  am  sorry  that  you  have  had  to  hear  the  opinion  I  have  of 
your  uncle  ;  but  it  is  out  now,  and  I  can  neither  help  myself 
nor  him.     I  cannot  see  that  the  sanctity  is  anything  but  a 


372  Hammer  and  Anvii. 

pretence,  which  in  such  a  calamity  talks  of  the  judgments  of 
God,  and  that  it  is  vain  to  kick  against  the  pricks." 

"  I  shall  not  fail,  as  in  duty  bound,  to  notify  giy  uncle  of 
the  friendly  opinions  which  are  so  frankly  expressed  of  him 
here,"  said  Herr  von  Krossow,  seizing  his  broad-rimmed  hat 
with  hands  that  trembled  with  rage,  and  hastening  out  of  the 
door. 

"  A  pleasant  journey  to  you  !"  cried  the  pugnacious  doctor, 
running  a  few  steps  after  him,  like  a  cock  whose  adversary 
has  left  him  master  of  the  arena.  "  A  pleasant  journey !"  he 
called  once  more  through  the  open  door,  which  he  then, 
snorting  wrath  and  scorn,  flung  furiously  to. 

"  You  have  lost  your  place  here,"  said  the  superintendent, 
seriously. 

"  At  all  events,  the  fellow  will  know  my  opinion  of  him," 
crowed  the  doctor. 

"  What  does  that  matter  ?"  asked  the  superintendent. 
"  But  that  you  should  be  physician  here  matters  much,  and 
to  me  most  of  all.  We  must  try  to  repair  this  in  some 
way." 

The  superintendent  walked  up  and  down  the  room  with 
slow  steps,  his  hands  clasped  behind  his  back,  as  was  his 
custom  ;  the  doctor  stood  first  upon  one  foot  and  then  upon 
the  other,  looking  greatly  ashamed  and  confused. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  asked  the  superintendent  of  a  turnkey,  who 
entered  at  that  moment  with  an  agitated  face. 

"  There  is  a  crowd  of  people  here,  Herr  Superintendent." 

"Where?" 

"At  the  gate." 

"  What  kind  of  people  ?" 

"  Mostly  from  the  Bridge-street,  Herr  Superintendent 
They  say  they  will  all  be  drowned.  And  since  the  prison 
stands  so  much  higher " 

Without  a  word  the  superintendent  left  the  room  and 
crossed  the  court.  We  followed.  He  had  on  a  short  silk 
coat  he  usually  wore  in  the  house,  and  was  without  hat  or 
cap.  As  he  strode  on  before  us,  the  storm,  which  was  furi- 
ous in  the  court,  dishevelled  his  thin,  dark  hair,  and  the  ends 
of  his  long  moustache  fluttered  like  pennons  in  the  wind. 

We  reached  the  gate  which  the  growling  porter  was 
ordered  to  open.     The  previous  evening  the  opening  of  a 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  373 

prison  door  had  exhibited  to  me  a  frightful  spectacle,  and  I 
now  had  to  behold  a  most  moving  and  pitiable  one,  which 
has  remained  no  less  indelibly  impressed  on  my  memory. 

There  were  outside  probably  fifty  persons,  mostly  women, 
some  men,  both  old  and  young,  and  children,  some  even  in 
the  arms  of  their  mothers.  Nearly  all  were  carrying  in  their 
hands,  or  had  placed  upon  the  ground,  some  of  their  little 
possessions,  and  these  apparently  the  first  that  came  to  hand, 
caught  up  in  haste  and  alarm.  I  saw  a  woman  with  a  great 
wash-tub  on  her  shoulders,  which  she  clutched  as  firmly  as 
if  it  would  fall  to  pieces  if  let  go ;  and  a  man  carrying  an 
empty  bird-cage,  which  the  wind  was  whirling  about.  The 
gate  was  no  sooner  open  than  they  all  rushed  into  the  yard 
as  if  pursued  by  furies.  The  turnkey  wished  to  oppose  their 
entrance,  but  the  superintendent  took  him  by  the  arm. 

"  Let  them  in,"  he  said. 

We  had  stepped  on  one  side,  and  let  the  mad  torrent  pour 
by  us,  and  it  now  spread  over  the  court,  and  in  part  rushed 
up  to  the  door  of  the  building. 

"  Halt !  "  cried  the  superintendent. 

They  all  stopped. 

"  Let  the  women  and  children  enter,"  he  said,  to  his  subor- 
dinates, "  al;^  the  old  and  the  sick.  You  men  may  go  in  to 
warm  yourselves,  but  in  ten  minutes  you  must  all  be  here 
again.  This  is  no  time  for  men  to  be  sitting  behind  the 
stove." 

Here  came  new  guests  through  the  open  gate. 

"  Let  them  in — let  all  in  !  "  said  the  superintendent. 

A  young  woman  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  who  had  rushed 
in  after  the  others,  went  up  to  the  superintendent  and  said  : 

"  I  want  my  husband  !  Why  do  you  keep  him  locked  up  ? 
I  can't  carry  all  the  brats  at  once  !  If  I  don't  find  the  rest, 
you  may  drown  this  one  too  !  " 

She  was  just  going  to  lay  the  child  on  the  ground,  when 
she  suddenly  turned  upon  the  doctor,  who  was  standing  by, 
pushed  the  child  into  his  arms,  and  sprang  out  of  the  gate. 
The  woman  had  wonderfully  long  blond  hair,  which  had  fal- 
len loose,  and  as  she  rushed  off  in  frantic  haste  it  fluttered 
behind  her  in  a  thousand  strings. 

"  Get  rid  of  your  little  burden,"  said  the  superintendent, 
smiling,  to  the  doctor.     "  You  must  take  command  here  in 


374  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

my  place.  Look  after  the  women  and  children,  my  friend, 
and  see  that  the  men  are  through  with  their  dinner  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour ;  then  let  them  come  out  here,  all  of  them, 
without  exception,  but  the  sick." 

The  doctor  cast  an  inquiring  look  at  his  chief.  Suddenly 
a  light  seemed  to  flash  across  his  grotesque  physiognomy, 
and  holding  the  wailing  child  close  to  his  breast,  he  ran  with 
his  queer  tripping  steps  into  the  house  to  carry  out  the 
orders  he  had  just  received. 

"  Stay  here,  George,"  said  the  superintendent  to  me,  "  and 
talk  to  the  people,  as  thou.knowest  how.  I  shall  be  back  in 
ten  minutes." 

He  went :  I  remained  staring  after  him.  What  was  the 
meaning  of  this  ?  For  the  first  time  he  had  called  me  thou. 
His  eye  had  been  steadily  fixed  upon  me  ;  it  was  not  a  trip 
of  the  tongue,  and  yet  he  had  not  spoken  it  intentionally  ;  I 
felt  this  instinctively  ;  I  felt,  indeed  I  knew,  that  it  was  be- 
cause at  this  solemn  moment  the  little  barriers  which  con- 
ventional life  had  thrown  up  between  us,  in  this  man's  eyes, 
shrivelled  up  into  nothing.  And  I  knew  what  was  in  his 
mind  :  I  knew  that  he  was  preparing  himself  for  a  battle  of 
life  and  death,  and  that  he  had  gone  to  take  farewell  of  his 
family.  A  shudder  ran  through  me ;  my  bjeast  swelled 
high  ;  I  raised  my  head  proudly. 

"  Good  people,"  I  said,  "  take  courage :  he  will  help  you 
if  a  man  can." 

They  crowded  around  me,  bewailing  their  great  peril ; 
how  the  water  had  been  rising  since  yesterday  midnight  at 
the  rate  of  nearly  a  foot  an  hour  ;  that  had  now  been  going 
on  for  twelve  hours,  and  the  rampart  in  the  lowest  part  was 
only  twelve  or  thirteen  feet  high  ;  that  the  Bridge-street  and 
Sweed-street  next  to  it  were  but  very  little  above  the  ordi- 
nary level  of  the  sea,  and  if  the  rampart  gave  way,  all  were 
lost.  Master-Pilot  Walter,  who  understood  these  things 
well,  had  always  said  something  would  happen ;  but  there 
was  no  money  for  anything  of  the  sort — that  was  all  spent 
on  the  bastions  and  casemates  on  the  land-side. 

"  And  thev  have  clapped  my  two  boys  into  uniform,"  said 
an  old  man,  "  and  now  they  are  out  on  the  road  and  cannot 
help  us."  .    . 

"  But /5<r  will,"  I  said.  '      i 


^f^^ 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  375 

The  old  man  looked  at  me  incredulously. 

"  He  is  a  good  gentleman,"  he  said  ;  "  every  child  knows 
that ;  but  what  can  he  do  ?  " 

Here  the  superintendent  came  again  out  of  the  house,  and 
at  the  same  time  out  of  three  several  doors  which  opened 
from  the  different  wings  of  the  main-building  streamed  forth 
the  convicts,  and  work-house  men,  about  four  hundred  in 
number,  all  more  or  less  stalwart  men,  in  their  gray  working- 
jackets,  the  most  already  provided  with  spades,  picks,  axes, 
ropes,  and  whatever  else  likely  to  be  of  service,  that  they  had 
been  able  to  find  in  the  establishment.  The  men  were 
headed  by  their  overseers. 

Thus  they  came  on  in  military  order  and  step.  "  Halt ! 
Front  face !  "  commanded  the  overseers,  and  the  men  halted 
in  three  companies,  steady  as  a  battalion  under  arms. 

"  This  way,  men  !  "  cried  the  superintendent,  in  a  sono- 
rous voice.  The  men  obeyed.  All  eyes  were  fixed  upon 
him,  who  stood  with  his  head  bent  down  as  if  reflecting. 
Suddenly  he  looked  up,  his  eye  flashed  around  the  circle, 
and  with  a  voice  that  rose  strong  and  clear  above  the  storm, 
he  cried  : 

"  Men  !  Each  one  of  us  has  had  some  one  hour  in  his 
life  which  he  would  give  much  to  be  able  to  recall.  To-day 
a  great  good  fortune  is  granted  you :  every  one  of  you,  who- 
ever he  may  be  and  whatever  he  has  done — every  one  of 
you  may  now  buy  back  that  hour,  and  become  again  what  he 
once  was,  before  God,  himself,  and  all  good  men.  You 
have  been  told  what  you  are  wanted  for.  It  is  to  risk  your 
lives  for  the  lives  of  others — ^for  the  lives  of  helpless  women 
and  children  !  I  make  you  no  vain  promises  ;  I  do  not  say 
what  you  are  about  to  do  will  make  free  men  of  you ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  tell  you  that  you  will  return  here  just  as  you 
left  Neither  freedom  nor  any  other  reward  awaits  you 
when  the  gate  closes  behind  you  this  evening  after  your 
work  is  over — nothing  but  the  thanks  of  your  superintend- 
ent, a  glass  of  stiff  grog,  and  a  comfortable  rest  upon  your 
beds,  such  as  an  honest  fellow  deserves.  Will  you  stand 
by  me  on  these  conditions .-'  Whoever  will,  let  him  raise 
his  right  hand  and  give  a  hearty  Aye  !  " 

Four  hundred  right  hands  flew  up,  and  from  four  hundred 
throats  came  the  shout  Aye  ! 


37^  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

At  once  the  crowd,  which  had  been  joined  by  the  fugitives 
from  the  town,  was  divided  into  three  companies,  of  which 
Silssmilch  was  to  command  the  first,  I  the  second,  and  a 
convict  named  Mathes,  formerly  a  ship-builder,  and  a  very 
active,  intelligent  man,  the  third.  The  overseers  had  fallen 
into  the  ranks  with  the  rest. 

"  Every  man  is  his  own  overseer  to-day !  "  said  the  super- 
intendent. 

Thus  we  marched  out  of  the  gate. 

The  short  street  upon  which  the  principal  prison-gate 
opened  was  soon  traversed,  but  at  the  old  and  rather  nar- 
now  gate  at  the  end  of  the  street  we  met  with  a  singular 
.resistance,  which,  more  than  anything  hitherto,  exhibited  the 
might  of  the  storm.  The  old  gate  was  in  fact  only  an  open 
arch  in  the  wall,  and  yet  it  took  us  longer  to  get  through  it 
than  if  we  had  had  to  burst  heavy  doors  of  oak  plated  with 
iron,  so  violently  did  the  blast  press  through  the  narrow 
opening.  Like  a  giant  with  hundred  arms  it  stood  without 
and  thrust  back  like  a  helpless  child  each  one  that  endeav- 
ored to  force  his  way  ;  only  our  combined  exertions,  holding 
each  other's  hands  and  clinging  to  the  rugged  surface  of  the 
arch,  enabled  us  to  force  the  pass.  Then  we  hastened  along 
the  way,  between  the  high  bastion  on  one  side  and  the  town- 
fosse  with  the  prison-buildings  on  the  other  side,  until  we 
reached  the  place  where  our  help  was  needed. 

It  was  that  low  rampart  which  immediately  joined  the 
bastion,  over  the  crest  of  which  I  had  so  often  cast  a  longing 
eye  from  the  Belvedere  towards  the  sea  and  the  island.  Its 
length  was  perhaps  five  hundred  paces,  and  then  came  the 
harbor  with  its  high  stone  breakwaters  reaching  far  out  into 
the  sea.  At  the  first  sight  I  perceived  why  tkis  place  was 
exposed  to  such  terrible  peril  in  a  storm  like  this.  The  sea, 
driven  in  by  the  force  of  the  storm,  was  caught  between  the 
high  bastion,  that  rested  upon  immense  foundations  of  solid 
masonry,  and  the  long  breakwater,  as  in  a  cul-de-sac,  and  as 
it  could  escape  on  neither  side,  it  spent  all  its  force  upon  the 
barrier  that  here  barred  its  way.  If  the  rampart  gave  way, 
the  whole  lower  part  of  the  town  was  gone.  No  one  could 
avoid  seeing  this  who  looked  from  the  rampart  into  the  nar- 
row streets  on  the  water-side,  where  the  ridges  of  the  roofs 
for  the  most  part  scarcely  reached  the  height  of  the  rampart, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  377 

so  that  one  could  see  over  them  into  the  inner  harbor  which 
lay  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbor-suburb,  where  now  the 
masts  of  the  ships  were  swaying  like  reeds  in  the  wind. 

I  think  that  I  did  not  take  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  min- 
ute to  have  a  distinct  comprehension  of  the  situation  as  I 
have  just  described  it,  and  indeed  no  more  time  was  allowed 
me.  My  senses  and  feelings  were  too  powerfully  seized  by 
the  sight  of  the  danger  we  had  come  to  contend  with.  I, 
who  had  passed  my  whole  life  upon  the  coast,  who  had  been 
tossed  for  days  together  by  the  waves  in  small  or  large  craft, 
who  had  watched,  from  the  shore  at  least,  many  a  fierce 
storm  with  unwearied  attention  and  sympathetic  terror — I 
thought  that  I  knew  the  sea  ;  and  now  saw  that  I  no  more 
knew  it  than  any  one  knows  a  bomb,  who  has  not  seen  one 
explode  and  scatter  death  and  destruction  around.  Not 
even  in  my  wildest  fancies  had  I  ever  approached  the  reality. 
This  was  not  the  sea  which  was  an  expanse  of  water  forming 
greater  and  smaller  waves  ;  this  was  a  monster,  a  world  of 
monsters  rushing  upon  us  with  wide-open  jaws,  roaring, 
howling,  ravening  for  prey ;  it  was  no  longer  anything  defi- 
nite or  distinguishable — the  destruction  of  all  form,  of  all 
color — chaos  that  had  broken  loose  to  engulf  the  world. 

I  believe  there  was  not  one  of  the  whole  company  who  was 
not  similarly  affected  by  the  sight.  I  can  see  them  now 
standing  there — the  four  hundred  as  they  had  rushed  to  the 
crest  of  the  rampart,  with  pale  faces,  their  terrified  eyes  now 
turned  upon  the  howling  chaos,  then  upon  their  neighbors, 
and  then  upon  the  man  who  had  led  them  here,  and  who  alone ' 
was  able  to  say  what  was  to  be  done,  what  could  be  done. 

And  never  had  a  hesitating  crowd  a  better  leader. 

With  the  true  eye  of  love  that  thoughtfially  gazes  into  the 
past,  I  see  him  in  so  many  situations,  and  always  do  I  be- 
hold him  noble  and  good;  but  at  no  moment  better  and 
nobler  than  in  this,  as  he  stood  upon  the  highest  point  of 
the  rampart,  one  arm  wound  round  the  strong  flag-staff"  which 
he  had  hastily  erected,  as  firm  upon  his  weakened  limbs 
as  the  bronze  statue  of  an  ancient  hero  !  And  hero-like  was 
the  look  of  his  eye  which  in  one  glance  took  in  the  danger 
and  the  remedy ;  hero -like  was  the  gesture  as  he  raised  his 
hand,  and  hero-like  was  the  voice  which  in  clear  incisive 
tones  gave  the  needful  orders. 


378  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

One  detachment  was  ordered  into  the  low  streets  to  bring 
up  all  the  empty  casks,  boxes  and  chests  they  could  find ; 
another  to  go  with  spades,  baskets  and  wheelbarrows  upon 
the  bastion,  where  there  was  earth  in  abundance  ;  another 
into  the  adjoining  glacis  with  ropes  and  axes  to  fell  the  trees 
which  for  years  had  been  awaiting  the  enemy  which — though 
in  an  unlooked-for  form — had  now  come  ;  another  into  the 
neighboring  dock-yards  to  summon  the  ship-builders  to  help 
us,  and  to  procure,  either  by  persuasion  or  force,  twenty  or 
thirty  large  beams  which  we  absolutely  needed.      Before 
half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  the  work,  so  well  directed,  was  in 
full  activity.     At  one  place,  baskets  of  earth  were  lowered 
into  the  rents  which  the  sea  had  made  in  the  rampart ;  at 
another,  posts  were  driven  in  and  wattled  with  boughs ;  at 
another,  a  wall  of  timbers  was  built  up.     And  all  worked, 
and  hurried,  and  dug,  and  shovelled,  and  hammered,  and 
wheeled,  and  dragged  great  loads,  with  a  diligence,  with  an 
energy,  with  a  cheerful,  dauntless  courage,  that  even  now 
the  tears  start  to  my  eyes  as  I  think  of  it ;  when  I  think  that 
these  were  the  men  whom  society  had  spurned  out ;  the  men 
who,  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  a  few  groschen  or  a  childish 
craving,  had  become  common  thieves  ;  the  men  whom  I  had 
so  often,  with  disgust,  seen   sulkily  slouching  across   the 
prison  court  to  their  work ;  the  men  whom  the  storm  of  yes- 
terday, beating  against  the  walls  of  their  prison,  had  driven 
to  a  frenzy  of  terror.     There  lay  the  town  at  their  feet ;  they 
might  rush  into  it,  rob,  burn,  and  murder  to  their  heart's 
content — who  was  to  hinder  them  ?     There  lay  the  wide  world 
open  before  them  ;  they  had  only  to  escape  into  it ;  who 
could  restrain  them  ?     Here  was  a  work  more  difficult  and 
more  toilsome  than  any  they  had  ever  done  ;  who  was  it  that 
compelled  them  to  it.''     This  was  the  storm  before  which 
they  had  yesterday  trembled  in  its  most  appalling  fonn  ; 
why  did  they  not  tremble  now  ?    Why  did  they  go,  jesting, 
laughing,  into  the  very  jaws  of  death,  when  they  had  to  se- 
cure and  bring  in  a  great  mast  which  had  been  drifted  in 
from  the  harbor,  and  which  the  waves  were  driving  like  a 
battering-ram  against  the  rampart .''     Why  ?     I  believe  if  all 
men  answered  this  why  as  I  answer  it,  there  would  no  longer 
be  masters  and  serfs  ;  no  longer  would  men  sing  the  sad 
old  song  of  the  hammer  that  would  not  be  an  anvil,  for — 


■  a^r- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


379 


but  wherefore  answer  a  why  that  only  the  world's  history  can 
answer?  Wherefore  lay  the  secrets  of  our  hearts  before  a 
world  which  passes  by  indifferent,  unnoticing,  or  only  notic- 
ing to  mock ! 

Whoever  looked  on  at  this  work — how  these  men  let  the 
skin  be  torn  from  their  flesh  and  the  flesh  from  their  bones  in 
their  terrible  work — did  not  laugh ;  and  those  who  looked 
on  were  the  poor  people  of  the  water-streets — ^women  and 
children  for  the  most  part,  for  the  men  had  to  help  in  the 
work — who  stood  below  sheltered  by  the  rampart,  and  with 
frightened  and  astonished  faces  looked  at  the  gray-jackets, 
whom  they  had  usually  only  watched  with  timid,  suspicious 
glances  as  they  passed  through  the  streets  in  small  parties 
led  by  overseers  from  out-door  work.  To-day  they  were  not 
afraid  of  the  gray-jackets  ;  to-day  they  prayed  that  heaven's 
blessing  might  go  with  the  food  and  drink  that  they  brought 
to  strengthen  and  refresh  those  who  were  exhausted  with  the 
toil.  No,  they  were  not  afraid  of  the  four  hundred  ;  gladly 
would  they  have  seen  their  numbers  doubled  and  tripled. 

But  there  were  men  living  far  out  of  the  reach  of  the  dan- 
ger, whose  lives  or  property  were  nowise  at  stake,  and  who 
thus  were  in  a  position  acutely  to  feel  the  irregularity  and 
illegality  of  these  proceedings. 

I  remember  that,  one  after  the  other,  the  Chief  of  Police 
von  Raubach,  President  von  Krossow,  the  Lieutenant  Gen- 
eral and  Commandant  of  the  Fort,  his  excellency  Count 
Dankelheim,  came  storming  our  leader  with  entreaties,  com- 
mands, threats,  to  place  his  dreaded  brigade  under  locks  and 
bolts  again.  I  remember  that  they  came  together  in  the 
evening  to  make  a  combined  attack,  and  I  have  still  to  smile 
when  I  recall  the  cheerful  calm  with  which  the  good,  brave 
man  repelled  the  assault. 

"  What  would  you  have,  gentlemen  ? "  he  said.  "  Would 
you  really  prefer  that  hundreds  should  lose  their  lives  and 
thousands  their  property,  rather  than  that  a  dozen  or  a 
couple  of  dozen  of  these  poor  rascals  should  decamp  and 
gain  the  liberty  which  they  have  honestly  earned  to-day  ? 
But  I  shall  bring  them  back  when  the  danger  is  over.  Be- 
fore that  time  no  man  shall  move  me  from  here,  unless  he 
does  it  by  force ;  and  happily  no  one  of  you  is  able  to  do 
that,  gentlemen  !     And  now,  gentlemen,  this  interview  must 


380  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

terminate ;  night  is  coming  on  ;  we  have  at  most  only  a  half 
hour  to  make  our  preparations  for  the  night.  I  have  the 
honor  to  wish  you  good  day  !  " 

With  these  words  he  waved  his  hand  towards  the  three 
high  functionaries,  who  made  an  extremely  poor  figure  as 
they  stole  off,  and  then  turned  all  his  attention  where  he  was 
needed. 

Where  he  was  needed  at  this  moment  more  than  ever ; 
for  just  now,  at  the  approach  of  night,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
storm  had  rallied  all  its  force  for  a  last  and  decisive  assault. 

I  feared  that  we  should  have  to  succumb ;  that  our  des- 
perate toil  of  six  hours  was  all  in  vain.  The  giant-waves  no 
longer  were  hurled  back  ;  their  crests  were  torn  off  and  flew 
far  over  the  rampart  into  the  streets.  Shrieking  with  terror, 
the  crowd  below  fled  in  all  directions  ;  scarcely  one  among 
us  workmen  could  hold  his  place  on  the  summit :  I  saw  des- 
perate fellows,  who  had  played  with  the  danger  hitherto,  now 
turn  pale  and  shake  their  heads,  and  heard  them  say  :  "  It 
is  impossible  :  nothing  more  can  be  done.  " 

And  now  came  the  most  terrible  act  in  this  awful  drama. 

A  small  Dutch  ship  which  had  been  moored  in  the  road- 
stead broke  loose  from  her  anchors  and  was  hurled  about 
in  the  frightful  surf  like  a  nutshell,  now  tossed  aloft,  now  en- 
gulfed in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  but  driven  with  every  wave 
nearer  the  rampart  we  were  defending.  We  saw  the  despair- 
ing gestures  of  the  crew,  who  were  clinging  to  the  spars  and 
rigging:  we  almost  fancied  that  we  heard  their  cries  for 
help. 

"  Can  we  do  nothing — nothing  ?  "  I  cried,  turning  to  the 
superintendent  with  tears  of  anguish  in  my  eyes. 

He  shook  his  head  sadly.  "  This  one  thing,  perhaps,"  he 
said,  "  that  when  she  is  thrown  up  thus  high  we  may  try  if 
we  can  grapple  her  so  that  the  surf  may  not  sweep  her  back. 
If  it  does  not  succeed  they  are  lost,  and  we  with  them,  for 
she  will  make  a  breach  in  the  rampart  which  we  cannot 
possibly  fill.  Let  them  drive  in  strong  posts,  George,  and 
make  fast  one  end  of  our  thickest  rope  to  them.  It  is  but  a 
feeble  possibility  ;  but  there  is  still  a  chance.     Come  !  " 

We  hastened  to  the  spot  on  which  the  ship,  now  but  a  few 
hundred  feet  distant,  was  driving.  The  men  had  left  the 
crest  of  the  rampart,  and  were  sheltering  themselves  as  well 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


381 


as  they  could  ;  but  now,  when  they  saw  their  leader  himself 
take  an  axe  in  his  hand,  they  all  came  up  and  worked  with  a 
sort  of  fury,  compared  with  which  all  that  they  had  hitherto 
done  was  child's  play. 

The  posts  were  planted,  and  the  rope  fastened.  Four  of 
the  strongest  men,  of  whom  I  was  one,  stood  upon  the  ram- 
part watching  the  right  moment. 

And  what  we  thought  scarcely  possible,  succeeded !  An 
enormous  wave  came  rolling  up  bearing  the  vessel  with  it. 
The  wave  breaks — a  deluge  bursts  over  us,  but  we  stand 
firm,  clutching  the  posts  with  the  grip  of  desperation  ;  and  as 
soon  as  we  can  see  again,  there  lay  the  ship  like  a  stranded 
whale,  high  upon  the  rampart.  We  spring  to  it ;  a  hundred 
hands  are  busy  at  once  making  fast  the  ropes  to  the  masts  ; 
a  hundred  others  in  releasing  the  pale  men — ^five  of  them — 
from  the  yards. ,  All  is  done  before  the  next  wave  breaks. 
Will  it  carry  off  our  prize  ?  It  comes,  and  after  it  another, 
and  another  ;  but  the  ropes  hold ;  each  wave  is  weaker  than 
the  last ;  the  fourth  does  not  reach  the  crest ;  the  fifth  falls 
far  behind.  In  the  fearful  incessant  thunder,  which  for  so 
many  hours  has  been  deafening  our  ears,  there  comes  a  sud- 
den pause  ;  the  pennons  on  the  rocking  masts  of  the  ships 
in  the  inner  harbor,  which  have  been  flying  towards  the  east, 
now  droop,  and  then  fly  out  to  the  west ;  the  wind  hauls,  the 
storm  is  over,  the  victory  is  ours  ! 

The  victory  is  ours.  Every  one  knows  it  in  a  moment. 
A  cheer,  that  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  end,  bursts  from  the 
throats  of  these  rude  men.  They  grasp  each  other's  hands  ; 
embrace  each  other — Hurrah !  and  Hurrah !  again  and  again ! 

The  victory  is  ours ;  but  it  is  dearly  purchased. 

When  I  looked  for  him— him  whom  all  had  to  thank  for 
all — he  was  no  longer  standing  on  the  spot  where  I  had  seen 
him  last.  But  I  see  the  men  running  to  the  place,  and  I  run 
with  them ;  I  outstrip  them  all,  driven  by  a  fear  which  gives 
me  wings.  I  force  my  way  through  the  assembled  crowd, 
and  find  all  with  bowed  heads  gazing  at  a  man  who  lies  upon 
the  ground,  his  head  upon  the  knees  of  the  old  sergeant. 
The^  man  is  pale  as  death,  and  his  lips  are  covered  with 
bloody  froth,  and  all  around  him  the  earth  is  drenched  with 
fresh  blood— his  blood— the  heart's  blood  of  that  noblest  of 
living  men. 


382  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Is  he  dead  ? "  I  hear  one  of  the  men  ask. 

But  the  hero  could  not  die  yet :  he  has  one  duty  more  to 
perform.  He  summons  me  with  a  look,  and  I  bend  over 
him  as  he  moves  his  lips,  from  which  no  sound  now  issues. 
But  I  understand  him.  I  clasp  both  arms  around  him  and 
raise  him  up.  Thus  he  stands  erect,  leaning  upon  me,  the 
lofty  kingly  form.  They  can  all  see  him — the  men  whom  he 
has  led  here  and  whom  he  is  going  to  lead  back.  He 
glances  at  his  hand,  which  hangs  helpless,  white  as  wax,  at 
his  side ;  I  raise  it,  and  it  points  in  the  direction  of  the  way 
that  we  had  come  at  noon.  There  is  not  one  who  dares 
disobey  this  dumb,  solemn  command.  They  assemble,  fall 
into  rank  and  file  ;  the  sergeant  and  I  bear  their  dying  leader  j 
and  thus  we  return  in  long,  slow,  sad  procession. 

Night  has  come  on  ;  and  but  a  few  occasional  gusts  rush 
by  to  remind  us  of  the  frightful  day  we  have  all  passed 
through.  The  convicts  are  sleeping  upon  the  pillow  of  a 
good  conscience,  which  the  superintendent  had  promised 
them.  Their  superintendent  sleeps  too,  and  his  pillow  is  as 
soft  as  death  in  a  good  and  great  cause  can  make  it. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

IT  was  a  year  after  these  events  that  a  solitary  traveller 
was  ascending  the  slope  of  one  of  the  hills  of  the  heath 
which  surrounded  the  town  of  Uselin  on  the  land  side. 
He  journeyed  slowly,  like  one  who  is  wearied  with  a  long 
march,  and  laboriously  dragged  his  feet  through  that  coarse 
sand  with  which  the  sea  loves  to  bestrew  its  threshold.  But 
the  traveller  was  not  by  any  means  weary  ;  he  had  jour- 
neyed but  few  miles  that  day,  and  for  him  twice  the  exertion 
had  been  but  child's  play.  The  little  bundle  which  was 
slung  from  a  stick  over  his  shoulder  could  not  overburden 
him  ;  and  yet  he  went  slower  and  slower  as  he  approached 
the  three  pines  which  crowned  the  summit  of  the  hill ; 
indeed  he  stopped  from  time  to  time  and  pressed  his  hand 
upon  his  heart,  as  though  his  breath  failed  him  for  the  few 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


l^l 


steps  that  were  yet  to  be  taken.  And  now  he  stood  on  the 
summit  under  the  pines ;  the  stick  with  the  bundle  slipped 
from  his  grasp,  and  he  stretched  out  Kis  arms  toward  the  little 
town  which  from  the  strand  glittered  in  a  light  blended  with 
the  glitter  of  the  sea.  Then  he  threw  himself— tall  and  pow- 
erful man  as  he  was — upon  the  heather  under  the  pines, 
weeping  and  sobbing  like  a  child,  but  presently  half  raised 
himself,  and  lay  for  a  long  time,  propped  by  his  elbow,  stead- 
ily gazing  at  the  little  sea-port  at  his  feet,  with  its  peaked 
gables  and  steep  roofs  reddened  by  the  sunset. 

What  thoughts  were  passing  through  the  mind  of  this  soli- 
tary man .''     What  emotions  were  filling  his  heaving  breast  ? 

Many  a  poet  who  has  carelessly  brought  his  hero  into  a 
similar  situation  probably  finds  the  answer  to  this  question 
no  such  easy  task ;  but  fortunately  for  me  I  myself  am  the 
wanderer  lying  under  the  pines,  and  since  that  time  not  so 
many  years  have  flown  that  the  place,  the  hour,  and  what 
they  brought  me,  could  have  escaped  my  memory. 

What  did  they  bring.'' 

A  host  of  memories  from  the  years  when  the  man  was  a 
light-hearted  boy,  and  all  that  he  saw  around  him  now  but 
the  scenes  of  his  wild  sports  :  the  town,  from  the  depth  of 
the  half-filled-up  fosse  to  the  tops  of  the  spires  ;  the  gardens, 
fields,  meadows  and  heaths  that  surrounded  it  as  far  as  these 
very  hills  ;  the  harbor  with  its  ships,  and  the  glistening  sea  * 
on  which  he  loved  to  row  in  a  frail  boat  when  the  towers,  as 
now,  glowed  ruddy  in  the  evening  light. 

Hither  and  thither  strayed  my  looks,  and  everywhere  they 
encountered  objects  that  greeted  me  as  old  acquaintances ; 
but  they  did  not  dwell  long  upon  any  one ;  just  as  when  we 
search  a  well-known  book  for  some  especial  passage,  turning 
leaf  after  leaf,  and  every  line  that  meets  the  eye  is  familiar, 
and  yet  we  can  not  light  upon  the  place  we  are  looking  for. 

But  in  truth  it  was  so  small  and  lowly,  the  old  one-storied 
house  with  the  painted  gable  on  the  narrow  harbor-street, 
and  the  street  lay  so  low,  covered  by  the  larger  houses  of 
the  higher  part  of  the  town, —  how  could  I  expect  from  this 
spot  to  distinguish  the  little  house  with  the  narrow  gable  ? 

And  yet  for  what  other  purpose  had  I  made  the  journey 
hither,  the  sixteen  miles  from  the  prison — my  first  journey 
after  regaining  my  freedom — but  to  see  that  house,  and,  if 


384  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

fortune  would  permit,  perhaps  through  a  crack  in  the  shutter 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  its  occupant  ?  For  to  go  to  him,  to 
gaze  into  his  eyes,  to  throw  my  arms  about  his  neck,  as  my 
heart  yearned  to  do — this,  after  what  had  happened,  I  dared 
not  hope.  In  the  short  notes  with  which  he  had  answered  my 
letters,  there  had  never  been,  during  all  the  seven  years  of  my 
imprisonment,  one  single  word  of  love,  of  comfort,  of  forgive- 
ness. 

And  my  last  letter,  written  a  week  before,  in  which  I  con- 
gratulated him  in  advance  on  his  sixty-seventh  birth-day,- 
told  him  that  this  would  be  the  day  of  my  liberation,  and 
asked  if  I — now  another,  and,  I  hoped,  a  better  man — might 
venture  to  come  to  him  on  that  day — this  letter,  which  I 
had  written  with  wet  eyes  and  a  trembling  hand,  had  never 
been  answered. 

The  red  glow  had  at  last  vanished  from  the  high  roofs 
and  peaked  gables,  from  the  fluttering  pennons  of  the  ships 
in  the  outer  harbor,  and  from  the  two  church-towers  ;  a  light 
mist  arose  from  the  meadows  and  fields  which  stretched  from 
the  hills  upon  the  heath  to  the  city.  The  mail-coach  came 
along  the  road  lined  with  stunted  fruit  trees  ;  and  I  watched 
it  as  it  slowly  passed  tree  after  tree,  until  it  disappeared  behind 
the  first  houses  of  the  suburb.  Here  and  there  upon  the  nar- 
row foot-path  between  the  fields  were  seen  the  figures  of  la- 
borers moving  toward  the  town,  and  these  also  disappeared. 
The  twilight  faded  away ;  denser  grew  the  mists  in  the  hol- 
lows ;  nothing  living  was  to  be  seen  except  a  brace  of  hares 
sitting  up  on  their  haunches  in  a  stubble-field,  and  a  great 
flock  of  crows,  which  came  croaking  from  the  pine-forest 
where  I  used  to  play  "  Robbers  and  Soldiers "  with  my 
comrades,  their  black  bodies  flapping  distinct  against  the 
lighter  sky,  as  they  bent  their  course  to  the  old  church- 
towers. 

The  hour  had  now  come. 

I  arose,  hung  my  bundle  once  more  over  my  stick,  slowly 
descended  the  hill  and  took  my  way  through  the  misty  fields 
to  the  town.  In  an  obscure  spot  in  the  suburbs  I  stopped 
again  for  awhile — it  was  not  dark  enough  for  me  yet.  I 
neither  feared  nor  had  reason  to  fear  any  one.  Even  before 
my  great  enemy,  Justizrath  Heckepfennig,  or  those  redoubt- 
able public  servants  Luz  and  Bolljahn,  had  I  met  them,  I 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  385 

need  not  have  cast  down  my  eyes,  or  stepped  aside  ;  and  yet 
it  was  not  dark  enough. 

Now  the  night  breeze  rustled  louder  in  the  half-stripped 
boughs  of  the  maple  against  which  I  was  leaning,  and  looking 
up  I  saw  a  star  twinkling  through  the  sprays — now  it  would 
do. 

How  hollow  sounded  my  footsteps  in  the  empty  streets, 
and  how  heavily  beat  my  heart  in  my  anxious  breast !  As  I 
passed  the  Rathhaus,  Father  Riiterbusch,  the  night-watch- 
man, was  standing,  bare-headed  and  without  his  weapons, 
at  his  post,  and  looking  pensively  at  the  empty  table  and 
barrel-chair  of  Mother  Moller's  cake  stand,  while  above  us 
the  clock  in  the  tower  of  St.  Nicholas's  church  struck  eight. 
Was  Mother  MoUer  dead,  that  Father  Riiterbusch  thus  gazed 
at  the  empty  barrel,  and  had  not  even  a  glance  for  his  old 
acquaintance  from  the  guard-house  ? 

Dead  }  Why  not  ?  She  was  an  old  woman  when  I  last 
saw  her — just  the  age  of  my  father,  as  she  told  me  once 
when  I  was  spending  my  pocket  money  at  her  stall.  As  old 
as  my  father  !  A  chill  wind  blew  through  the  hall ;  I  shiv- 
ered from  head  to  foot,  and  with  a  rapid  stride,  almost  a  run, 
I  hurried  over  the  little  market-place  down  the  sloping  streets 
leading  to  the  harbor. 

Here  was  the  Harbor-street,  and  here  was  the  house ! 
Thank  heaven  !  A  light  was  glimmering  through  the  shut- 
ters of  both  windows  on  the  left.  Thank  heaven  once 
more  ! 

And  now  would  I  do  and  must  do  what  on  that  other  eve- 
ning I  wished  to  do  and  should  have  done,  and  yet  did  not : 
go  in  and  say  to  him  "  forgive  me  !  " 

I  grasped  the  brass  knob  of  the  door — again  it  felt  cold  as 
ice  to  my  hot  hand.  The  door-bell  gave  a  sharp  clang,  and 
at  its  summons  appeared  at  the  door  of  the  right-hand 
chamber— just  as  on  that  evening — the  faithful  Friederike. 
No,  not  just  as  on  that  evening ;  her  little  figure,  bent  with 
age,  was  dressed  in  black,  and  a  black  ribbon  fastened  the 
snow-white  cap  with  its  broad  ruffle,  which  formed  a  ring  of 
points  around  her  wrinkled  face.  And  out  of  the  wrinkled 
face  two  eyes,  red  with  weeping,  stared  at  the  strange  vis- 
itor. 

".Rike,"  I  said — it  was  all  that  I  could  utter. 
16 


386  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  George  !  good  heaven  !  "  the  old  women  cried,  tottering 
towards  me  with  uplifted  hands. 

She  grasped  both  my  hands,  and  gazed  at  me,  sobbing  and 
speechless,  with  quivering  lips,  while  the  tears  streamed 
down  her  furrowed  cheeks.  She  had  no  need  to  speak  :  I 
did  not  ask  what  had  happened  :  I  only  asked  "  When  ? " 

"  A  week  ago  to-day,"  sobbed  the  old  woman.  "  He  did 
not  even  live  to  see  his  birth-day." 

"  What  did  he  die  of  ? "  -^  ' 

"  I  do  not  know.  Nobody  knows.  Doctor  Balthasar  says 
he  cannot  understand  it.  He  has  never  been  quite  well 
since  you  have  been  away  ;  and  kept  growing  worse  and 
worse,  though  he  would  never  own  it ;  and  two  weeks  ago 
he  took  to  his  bed,  and  kept  perfectly  still,  looking  always 
just  before  him,  only  that  sometimes  he  would  write  in  his 
house-book,  and  that  on  the  very  evening  before  ;  and  when 
I  came  in  the  morning  he  was  dead,  and  the  book  was  lying 
on  the  bed,  and  I  took  it  myself  and  showed  it  to  nobody  when 
they  came  and  sealed  up  everything.  I  thought  I  ought  to 
keep  it  for  you  :  he  used  so  often  to  say  your  name  to  him- 
self when  he  was  writing.  What  he  wrote  I  don't  know ;  I 
cannot  read;  but  I  will  get  it  for  you." 

She  opened  the  door  into  my  father's  room.  It  was  neat 
as  ever — painfully  neat,  but  even  more  uninhabitable.  The 
white  slips  of  parchment,  fastened  with  seals  over  the  key- 
holes of  the  secretary  and  the  old  brown  press  in  the  corner, 
had  a  spectral  look  to  me. 

"  Why  is  the  lamp  burning  on  the  table  ?  "  I  asked. 
They  are  coming  this  evening." 


<( 


"Who  are  coming  ?  " 


"Sarah  and  her  husband,  and  the  children,  I  believe. 
Did  you  not  know  ?  " 

"  I  know  of  nothing — nothing  whatever.  And  there  still 
lies  my  letter — unbroken  !     He  never  read  it !  " 

I  sank  into  the  chair  that  stood  by  the  writing  table.  I 
had  never  sat  in  this  chair,  had  scarcely  dared  to  touch  it. 
A  king's  throne  had  seemed  less  venerable  to  me.  This 
thought  at  once  struck  me,  and  was  followed  by  many,  many 
other  painful  thoughts :  my  head  sank  into  my  hands : 
gladly  would  I  have  wept,  but  I  could  not  weep. 

The  old  woman  returned  with  the  book  of  which  she  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


387 


spoken.  I  knew  it  well ;  it  was  a  thick.quarto  volume,  bound 
in  leather,  with  clasps,  and  I  had  often  seen  it  in  my  father's 
hands  of  an  evening  when  he  had  done  his  work  ;  but  never 
had  I  ventured  to  cast  a  look  into  it,  even  had  I  had  the 
opportunity,  which  but  rarely  happened,  as  my  father  always 
kept  it  carefully  locked  up.  Now  it  lay  open  before  me  : 
one  after  another  I  turned  the  thick  leaves  of  the  rough 
coarse  paper,  their  pages  covered  with  the  neat,  pedantically 
straight  hand- writing  of  my  father,  which  I  knew  so  well. 
The  hand  had  not  changed,  although  the  entries  extended 
over  more  than  forty  years,  and  the  ink  on  the  first  pages 
was  entirely  faded.  Only  upon  the  last  did  this  steady 
strength  seen  to  fail.  The  traces  of  the  pen  grew  ever  more 
angular,  feebler  ;  they  were  but  the  ruin  of  what  had  formerly 
been  ;  the  last  word  was  just  legible  and  no  more.  It  was 
my  name. 

And  everywhere  upon  the  first  leaves,  those  of  some 
twenty-seven  years  back,  stood  my  name. 

"  To-day  a  son  has  been  born  to  me — a  sturdy  little  fellow. 
The  nurse  says  she  never  saw  in  her  life  so  stout  a  babe,  and 
that  he  is  like  St.  George.  So  he  shall  be  called  George, 
and  shall  be  the  joy  of  my  life  and  the  staff  of  my  old  age. 
May  God  grant  it !  " 

"  George  comes  on  finely,"  was  on  another  page.  "  He  is 
already  larger  than  the  Herr  Steuerrath's  Arthur,  who  is  not 
small  either.  He  seems  to  have  a  good  head  of  his  own. 
Though  only  three  years  old,  it  is  wonderful  what  ideas  he 
has.     He  must  soon  go  to  school." 

And  again  on  another : 

"  Clerk  VoUand  is  full  of  praise  of  my  George.  '  He 
might  get  on  better  with  his  learning,'  the  old  man  says ; 
'  but  his  heart  is  in  the  right  place ;  he  will  be  a  fine  man 
some  day.  I  shall  not  live  to  see  it,  but  you  will,  and  then 
do  you  remember  that  I  said  so.' " 

And  so  it  went  on,  page  after  page — "  George  that  splen- 
did fellow  !     My  noble  boy,  George  !  " 

Then  came  other  times.  George's  name  was  not  now 
in  almost  every  line,  and  George  was  no  longer  the  splendid 
fellow  and  noble  boy.  George  would  not  do  right,  neither  in 
school,  nor  at  home,  nor  on  the  street,  nor  anywhere. 
George  was  a  good-for-nothing  !    No,  no ;  that  was  too  much 


388  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

to  say  ;  only  he  could  do  better  if  he  would,  and  he  certainly 
would  do  better — he  certainly  would ! 

Then  came  many  pages  and  George's  name  was  not  men- 
tioned at  all.  Many  a  family  event  was  noted  ;  my  mother's 
death  ;  the  terrible  news  of  my  brother's  loss  ;  that  his 
daughter  Sarah  had  again — for  the  third — for  the  fourth 
time — presented  him  with  a  grandson  or  a  grand-daughter  ; 
that  he  had  been  promoted  to  an  accountant's  place ;  that 
his  salary  had  been  raised  ;  but  George's  name  appeared  no 
more. 

Not  even  upon  the  last  leaves,  which  again  had  references 
to  "  him  ; "  that  "  he  "  was  so  well  liked  by  all  in  the  prison, 
and  that  the  Herr  Superintendent  von  Zehren  had  asked  to- 
day again  if  "  he  "  was  not  yet  found  worthy  of  his  father's 
forgiveness. 

"  I  have  tried  to-day  to  write  to  him  what  the  feelings  of 
my  heart  are ;  but  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  it.  I  will  tell 
him  all  when  he  comes  back,  if  he  cares  for  the  love  of  an 
old  broken  man  ;  but  write  it  I  cannot."  . 

And  upon  the  last  page  were  the  words : 

"  It  is  not  true  !  It  certainly  is  not  true.  Six  years  and 
a  half  he  has  behaved  well,  yes,  exemplarily,  and  in  the  sec- 
ond half  of  the  seventh  to  become  worthless  at  once !  I 
hear  little  good  of  the  new  superintendent.  The  one  that  is 
gone  was  a  noble-spirited  man,  and  he  was  always  full  of 
praise  of  him — no,  no,  whatever  they  may  say  of  him,  my 
boy  is  not  worthless,  not  worthless  !" 

And  last  of  all : 

"  In  a  week  he  will  be  free  ;  he  will  find  me  upon  a  sick 
bed  if  he  finds  me  at  all.  For  his  sake  I  wish  it ;  for  it 
would  be  a  great  sorrow  to  him  to  see  me  no  more.  I  have 
thought  all  these  years  that  my  boy  did  not  love  me,  or  he 
would  never  have  given  me  so  much  pain ;  but  I  had  just 
now  a  dream  that  he  was  here  and  I  held  him  in  my  arms. 
I  said  to  him,  George " 

I  stared  with  burning  eyes  at  the  blank  which  followed,  as 
if  there  must  appear  upon  it  the  words  which  my  father  had 
said  to  me  in  his  dream ;  but  gaze  as  I  might,  the  words  ap- 
peared not,  and  at  last  I  saw  nothing  more  for  the  flood  of 
tears  that  burst  from  my  eyes. 

"You  must  not  cry  so,  George,"  said  the  good  old  woman. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  389 

"  I  know  he  always  loved  you  more  than  the  rest — ^very  much 
more.  And  if  he  died  of  grief  and  heart-break  on  your  ac- 
count, why  he  was  an  old  man,  and  now  he  is  dead  and  with 
our  Heavenly  Father,  and  he  is  well  there,  much  better  than 
here,  though  the  good  Lord  knows  that  I  have  had  no  other 
thought  these  twenty  years  than  to  make  it  all  right  with 

him." 

"  I  know  it,  I  know  it,  and  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times," 
I  cried,  seizing  her  brown  withered  bands.  "  And  now  tell 
me,  what  are  you  going  to  do,  and  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?" 

She  looked  at  me  and  shook  her  head ;  it  probably  seemed 
strange  to  her  that  George,  just  out  of  the  prison,  should 
offer  to  do  anything  for  her. 

I  repeated  my  question. 

"  Poor  boy,"  she  said,  "  you  will  have  enough  to  do  to 
provide  for  yourself,  for  what  he  has  left  does  not  amount 
to  much  ;  he  was  too  good  ;  he  would  help  everywhere  that 
he  could,  and  he  bought  a  place  in  the  Beguines  for  me,  for 
the  year  or  two  I  may  still  be  spared.  This  will  come  out 
of  it,  and  Sarah  made  fuss  enough  when  she  heard  it.  They 
thought  they  would  get  it  all';  but  it  is  to  be  divided  equally 
between  you  both.  I  have  that  from  his  own  mouth,  and  I 
can  swear  it,  and  will  swear  it,  if  they  raise  any  dispute,  be- 
cause he  left  no  will." 

At  this  moment  there  was  a  loud  ring  at  the  front  door. 

"  Good  heavens !  "  cried  the  old  woman,  clapping  her 
hands  together,  "  there  they  are  already !  " 

She  hurried  out  of  the  room,  leaving  the  door  open  after 
her.  I  remembered  that  I  had  never  loved  my  sister — ^that  I 
had  parted  from  her  with  unfriendly  feelings  long  years  be- 
fore, and  that  in  the  interval  I  had  by  no  means  learned  to 
love  her — but  what  difference  did  that  make  now?  Now, 
when  she  and  I  had  lost  our  father,  when  we  might  lean  and 
take  each  other's  hand  across  his  grave  ? 

I  went  into  the  little  hall,  which  was  nearly  filled  by  the  new- 
comers— a  tall,  lean,  pale  woman  in  black ;  a  short,  fat,  red- 
faced  man,  in  the  uniform  of  an  officer  of  the  customs  ;  and 
so  far  as  I  could  make  out  at  a  glance,  a  half-dozen  children, 
from  ten  or  twelve  years  old  to  an  infant,  which  the  tall,  pale 
woman  clutched  more  firmly  as  I  appeared  at  the  door,  and 
looked  at  me  with  a  hostile  rather  than  a  startled  look  in  her 


390  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

large  cold  eyes.  The  short,  fat  man  in  uniform  stepped  be 
tween  me  and  the  group  of  mother  and  children  with  a  con- 
fused expression  in  his  face,  and,  rubbing  his  plump  hands  in 
an  embarrassed  manner,  said  : 

"  We  were  not  expecting  you — ahem  ! — brother-in-law — 
ahem  !  but  we  ar^  very  glad  to  meet  you  here — ahem  !  '  My 
dear  wife  will  only  put  herself  to  rights  a  little — ahem  !  In 
the  meantime,  suppose  we  go  into  our  late  father's  room, 
where  we  can  talk  over  matters  undisturbed.  Don't  you 
think  so,  my  dear  ?  " 

The  little  man  turned  upon  his  heel  to  face  his  dear  wife, 
who,  instead  of  answering,  pushed  the  children  before  her 
into  old  Friederike's  little  room.  He  turned  back  to  me, 
rubbed  his  hands  with  still  more  embarrassment  than  before, 
and  said  again  "  Ahem  !  " 

We  entered  my  father's  room.  I  took  my  seat  in  his  chair, 
but  my  brother-in-law  was  too  disturbed  in  spirit  to  be  able 
to  sit  down.  He  paced  up  and  down  the  room  with  short 
quick  steps,  stopping  for  a  moment  every  time  he  passed  the 
door,  with  his  head  thrust  forward  a  little  on  one  side,  listen- 
ing if  his  dear  wife  had  called  him,  and  every  time,  to  fill  up 
the  pause  with  propriety,  he  said  "  Ahem .''  " 

It  was  a  long  detail  that  the  little  man  went  into  during 
his  restless  wandering  from  door  to  stove  and  from  stove  to 
door,  and  what  he  said  was  as  clumsy  and  awkward  as  him- 
self. It  seemed  that  he  and  his  dear  wife  had  cherished  a 
half  hope  that  I  would  never  be  discharged  from  prison,  es- 
pecially since  I  had  been  detained  half  a  year  over  my  time 
for  alleged  breaches  of  discipline.  He  rejoiced  exceedingly, 
he  said,  that  his  fears  and  those  of  his  dear  wife  had  not 
been  justified  ;  but  that  I  must  admit  that  it  was  a  hard  thing 
for  a  public  officer  to  have  a  brother-in-law  who  had  been  in 
the  House  of  Correction.  Did  I  think,  now,  that  an  officer 
with  such  kindred  was  likely  to  gain  promotion?  It  was 
frightful,  unpardonable,  so  to  speak,  and  if  he  could  have 
foreseen  it 

The  little  man  suddenly  gave  me  a  furtive  look.  I  was 
standing  perfectly  still,  looking  steadily  at  him,  was  a  giant 
in  comparison  with  him,  and  had  just  come  out  of  prison. 
It  seemed  to  strike  him  that  it  was  not  altogether  prudent  to 
take  this  tone  with  me,  so  now  there  came  a  long  litany  of 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  391 

the  dolorous  life  that  a  petty  subaltern  with  a  large  family 
has  to  lead  on  the  Polish  frontier.  True,  in  conformity  with 
the  wishes  of  his  dear  wife,  who  wanted  to  nurse  her  old 
father,  he  had  procured  his  removal  to  this  place  ;  but  now 
the  old  gentleman,  who  no  doubt  would  have  taken  it  kindly 
of  them,  must  needs  die,  and  living  here  was  so  much  more 
expensive,  and  then  the  journey  had  cost  so  much  with  all 
these  children,  and  the  baby  was  only  sixteen  weeks  old,  and 
though  the  inheritance  was  left,  still  two  was  a  heavy  divisor 
when  the  dividend  was  not  large,  and 

I  had  heard  enough,  and  more  than  enough. 

"  Do  you  know  this  book  ?"  I  asked,  laying  my  hand  on 
the  cover  of  my  father's  diary. 

"  No,"  replied  the  little  man. 

"  Give  me  this  book,  and  I  make  no  other  claim  upon  my 
father's  estate.  It  is  his  diary,  which  has  no  interest  for 
you.     Do  you  consent?  " 

"  Certainly — that  is,  ahem  !  I  don't  know  whether  my 
dear  wife — we  must  first  see  about  it — ,"  answered  my 
brother-in-law,  rubbing  his  hands  in  an  undecided  way,  and 
looking  askance  at  the  book  out  of  his  little  puffy  eyes. 

"Then  see  about  it" 

I  now  commenced  on  my  side  pacing  up  and  down  the 
room,  while  the  husband  of  his  dear  wife  seated  himself  at 
the  table,  to  submit  this  mysterious  book  to  a  closer  inspec- 
tion. 

It  seemed  to  excite  no  especial  interest  in  him  by  the  or- 
dinary process  of  reading  ;  so  he  tried  another  plan  with  it, 
taking  it  by  the  two  covers  and  letting  the  leaves  hang  down, 
which  he  shook  vigorously  for  half  a  minute.  As  this  pro- 
ceeding also  led  to  no  result,  he  gave  up  the  matter  as  hope- 
less, laid  down  the  book  again,  and  said  "  Ahem  !  " 

"  Are  you  agreed  !  "  I  asked. 

"Yes,  certainly — to  be  sure — so  to  speak — of  course;  that 
is,  we  must  put  it  down  in  writing — only  a  couple  of  lines 
— just  by  way  of  a  memorandum — ^we  might  have  it  after- 
wards drawn  up  by  a  notary " 

"  Whatever  you  wish,  whatever  you  wish,"  I  said.  "  Here 
then  ! " 

The  little  man  glanced  at  the  paper  and  glanced  at  me, 
while  I  tied  up  the  book  in  my  bundle,  and  took  bundle  and 


392 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


stick  in  my  hand.  Either  he  did  not  know  what  to  make  of 
me,  or — as  from  the  expression  of  his  countenance  was  more 
probable — considered  me  simply  insane  ;  in  either  case  he 
was  beyond  measure  glad  to  be  rid  of  me. 

"  Off  so  soon  t  "  he  said.  "  There's  my  dear  wife,  won't 
you " 

He  checked  his  invitation  to  see  his  dear  wife.  I  mut- 
tered something  that  might  pass  for  an  excuse,  left  the  room, 
pressed  old  Friederike's  hand  as  I  passed  through  the  hall, 
and  stood  in  the  street. 

I  have  but  a  dim  recollection  of  the  hour  that  followed. 
It  is  not  a  dream,  and  yet  it  seems  like  a  dream,  that  I  went 
to  the  grave-yard  in  the  mill-suburb,  roused  up  the  old  sex- 
ton, who  was  just  going  to  bed  ;  that  I  kneeled  by  a  recent 
grave,  and  afterwards  gave  the  old  mar,  who  stood  by  me 
with  a  lantern,  money  to  cover  the  hillock  next  morning  with 
fresh  sods  ;  that  I  went  back  again,  and  near  the  gate  passed 
the  villa  of  the  commerzienrath,  where  all  the  windows  were 
illuminated,  and  I  could  see  couples  gliding  past  them  in  the 
dance  to  a  music  which  I  could  not  hear,  and  that  I  thought 
the  little  Hermine  might  be  among  the  dancers,  and  then 
remembered  that  the  pretty  child  would  now  be  seventeen 
years  old,  if  she  were  still  alive. 

I  felt  an  irrepressible  sadness  ;  it  seemed  as  if  all  the 
world  had  died,  and  I  was  the  only  living  being  left,  and  the 
shades  of  the  dead  were  dancing  round  me  to  inaudible 
music. 

Thus  I  went  back  with  unsteady  steps  to  the  town,  and 
passed  along  the  empty  silent  streets  towards  the  harbor, 
mechanically  following  the  way  which  I  had  always  taken 
when  a  boy. 

The  sea-breeze  blew  in  my  face,  and  cooled  my  fevered 
brow,  and  I  inhaled  deep  draughts  of  the  invigorating  air. 
No,  the  world  was  not  dead,  nor  was  I  the  only  living  being 
left ;  and  there  was  a  music,  a  delicious  music,  sweeter  to 
me  than  any  other  :  the  music  of  the  wind  whistling  through 
spars  and  cordage,  and  the  waves  plashing  upon  the  harbor- 
bar  and  before  the  prow  of  the  ship.  Yes,  there  were  still 
those  who  loved  me,  and  whom  I  with  all  my  soul  could  love 
again. 

Upon  the  wharf,  where  the  steamboat  for  St. was  now 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


393 


lying  at  her  moorings,  there  was  standing  a  crowd  of  people. 
It  struck  me  that  I  could  best  commence  my  journey  to  the 
capital  by  this  steamer. 

Considering  this,  I  was  standing  at  the  head  of  the  pier, 
when  a  litter,  such  as  is  used  to  transport  the  sick,  was  car- 
ried past  me  towards  the  crowd.  The  litter  was  without 
the  usual  cover,  which  had  probably  been  forgotten  in  their 
haste,  or,  as  it  was  night,  not  considered  necessary. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  I  asked  the  men. 

"The  fireman  of  the  Elizabeth  has  broken  his  leg." 
growled  one  jn  reply,  in  whom  I  now  recognized  my  old 
friend,  officer  Luz. 

"  And  we  are  to  take  him  to  the  hospital,"  said  the  other, 
who  was  no  other  than  the  redoubtable  BoUjahn. 

•'  Poor  fellow  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  Yes,"  said  Luz,  "  and  his  wife  has  just  been  brought  to 
bed." 

"  And  they  had  eight  already,"  growled  Bolljahn. 

"  No,  seven,"  said  Luz. 

"  No,  eight,"  said  Bolljahn. 

The  group  upon  the  pier  began  to  move. 

"  There  he  lies  now,"  said  Luz. 

"  No,  eight,"  said  Bolljahn,  who  was  not  the  man  to  drop 
a  disputed  point  so  soon. 

They  had  brought  the  man  out  of  the  ship  to  the  pier. 
He  was  a  remarkably  large  and  powerful  man,  whom  six 
found  it  no  easy  task  to  carry,  and  who,  strong  as  he  was, 
groaned  and  cried  with  pain.  The  two  men  put  down  the 
litter ;  the  bearers  set  about  lifting  the  man  into  it,  very 
awkwardly  as  it  seemed,  for  he  screamed  with  anguish.  I 
thrust  a  couple  of  gapers  aside  and  came  up.  They  had 
laid  him  upon  the  ground  again  ;  I  asked  him  how  he  wanted 
to  be  placed,  and  took  hold  myself  with  the  others,  showing 
them  what  to  do. 

"  Thank  God  !  "  murmured  the  poor  fellow,  "  here  is  one 
man  with  some  sense." 

They  carried  him  off,  and  I  went  a  little  distance  with  them 
to  see  how  they  got  on.  Was  he  warm  enough  ?  Yes  he  was. 
Did  they  carry  him  well  ?  Well,  they  might  shake  him  a  lit- 
tle less. 

"  Here  is  something  for  you  too,"  I  said,  putting  a  piece 
17* 


394 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


of  money  into  the  hand  of  each  of  my  old  acquaintances, 
"  and  now  carry  him  as  if  he  were  your  brother  or  your  child  ; " 
and  then  I  bent  over  the  injured  man  and  whispered  some- 
thing in  his  ear  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  Luz  and  BoUjahn 
to  hear,  and  gave  him  something  which  it  was  equally  un- 
necessary for  them' to  see  ;  and  then  I  turned  again  to  the 
group  which  was  standing  by  the  gang-plank  of  the  steamer, 
discussing  the  remarkable  accident. 

At  this  moment  the  captain  came  out  upon  the  gang-plank, 
and  called  to  the  group  : 

"  Will  any  one  of  you  take  Karl  Riekmann's  place  for 
this  trip?     I  will  pay  him  good  wages." 

The  men  looked  at  each  other.  "  I  can't,  Karl,"  said  one, 
"  can't  you  ?  "  "  No,  Karl,"  said  the  one  addressed,  "  but 
can't  you,  Karl  ? "     "  Neither  can  I,"  said  the  third  Karl. 

"  I  will,"  said  I,  stepping  up  to  the  captain. 

The  captain,  a  short,  square-built  man,  looked  up  at  me. 

"  Oh,  you  will  do,"  he  said. 

"I  think  so." 

*'  Can  you  go  on  board  at  once .?  " 

"There  is  nothing  to  detain  me  here." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

A  GRAY  foggy  morning  succeeded  to  the  cold  windy 
night.  It  was  six  o'clock  when  the  Elizabeth  left  the 
wharf,  and  I  had  been  busy  with  the  fires  since  three. 
I  soon  fell  into  the  work,  and  scarcely  needed  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  lumpish,  growling  engineer.  I  had  to  laugh 
once  or  twice  involuntarily  when  the  man,  seeing  me  attend 
to  this  or  the  other  matter  about  the  engine  without  direc- 
tions, stared  at  me  with  a  look  half  of  surprise  and  half  of  j 
vexation.  I  had  told  him  that  I  was  an  entire  novice  at  this 
work,  and  this  was  the  literal  truth  ;  but  I  had  not  told  him, 
nor  was  there  any  necessity  that  I  should,  that  I  had  thor-  j 
oughly  studied  marine  steam-engines  with  the  best  of  teach- 
ers, and  had   familiarized   myself  with  even  the  minutest 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


395 


parts  on  an  excellent  model.  And  if  in  a  few  hours  I  had 
mastered  the  work  of  a  regular  fireman,  in  even  a  less  time 
I  had  acquired  the  appearance  of  one.  To  save  my  own 
clothes  I  had  laid  them  in  part  aside,  and  put  on  a  working 
blouse  of  my  unlucky  predecessor,  which  fitted  me  perfectly  ; 
and  what  with  handling  the  coal  and  the  effects  of  a  stream 
of  smoke  which  drove  into  my  face  for  quite  ten  minutes 
from  the  refractory  furnace  while  I  was  making  up  the  fires, 
even  my  friend  Doctor  Snellius,  who  piqued  himself  so 
greatly  upon  his  physiognomical  memory,  would  not  have 
recognized  me.  But  I  cared  little  for  this,  for  happily  I  had 
other  things  to  occupy  my  attention. 

I  say  happily,  for  it  was  ill  with  me  in  both  head  and  heart. 
The  death  of  my  father,  who  had  died  without  my  being  able 
even  once  to  press  his  stern  honorable  hand,  the  meeting 
with  my  sister  who  put  her  children  out  of  my  way  as  if 
they  were  endangered  by  my  presence,  the  prospect  of  the 
future  which  looked  all  the  darker  the  more  I  thought  over 
it — all  this  would  have  completely  overwhelmed  me  had 
not  ihe  honest  furnace  been  there  in  which  the  coals  glowed 
so  splendidly  and  the  flames  danced  so  merrily,  while  the 
sturdy  engine  worked  on  manfully  and  unresting.  Only  free 
work  can  make  us  free,  my  teacher  had  said  to  me.  I  had 
believed  him  at  his  word,  but  to-day  for  the  first  time  I  com- 
prehended it,  as  I  felt  how  the  hard  work  which  I  had  here 
to  perform  lightened  more  and  more  the  load  upon  my  heart, 
and  the  clouds  passed  away  from  my  brow. 

A  kind  of  joyful  pride  took  hold  of  me  as  I  felt  myself  at 
home  here;  and  I  thought  of  that  day  eight  years' before 
when  I  took  that  fateful  trip  on  the  Penguin  and  visited  my 
friend  Klaus  in  the  engine-room,  and  to  my  wine-heated 
brain  the  engine  appeared  a  machine  only  fit  to  crush  the 
life  out  of  me.  The  good  Klaus  !  He  had  trouble  enough 
with  me  that  day,  and  care  enough  about  me  ;  and  I  should 
give  him  both  trouble  and  care  now  if  I  should  go  to  him  to 
learn  with  his  help  to  be  a  good  workman.  Some  care  I 
should  give  him,  not  much ;  I  had  found  out  this  morning 
that  I  could  stand  more  firmly  on  my  own  feet  than  I  had 
supposed. 

Far  more  firmly  than  my  present  superior,  the  bearded 
engineer,  stood  upon  his.     He  stood  by  no  means  firmly, 


396 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


the  honest  fellow,  and  his  watery  eyes  as  well  as  the  sleepy 
expression  of  his  far  from  handsome  face,  and  the  vulgar 
perfume  of  alcohol  which  he  diffused  about  him,  made  it  ob- 
vious that  his  unsteady  gait  was  not  altogether  due  to  the 
rolling  of  the  boat.  The  worthy  man  was  not  exactly 
drunk — a  regular  engineer  is  never  drunk,  even  though  he 
sits  up  to  two  or  three  in  the  morning  in  a  tavern  drinking 
Swedish  punch  with  his  colleagues  from  the  Swedish  mail- 
boat — but  neither  was  he  sober ;  so  far  from  it  that  I  on 
my  side  began  to  look  at  my  superior  with  suspicious 
looks  when,  standing  by  his  lever,  he  sank  into  deep  medi- 
tation, which  often  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  a  peaceful 
slumber. 

"  A  warming-plate  wanted  on  the  forward  deck ;  quick, 
Herr  Weiergang  !  "  called  the  steward  down  to  the  engine- 
room.  Herr  Weiergang  nodded  at  me  :  it  was  a  matter  that 
concerned  me  especially.  I  knew  what  was  wanted.  I  had 
been  often  enough  on  steamboats  in  rough  weather  when  the 
motion  of  the  boat  rendered  it  impossible  for  those  ladies 
who  readil}'^  suffered  from  sea-sickness  to  remain  in  the  cabin, 
and  the  sharp  north-east  wind  and  the  spray  made  the  ex- 
posure upon  deck  disagreeable  and  sometimes  intolerable. 
Intolerable,  if  the  honest  fireman  were  not  at  hand  with 
plates  of  iron  cast  especially  for  this  purpose,  which  he  has 
heated  on  the  boiler  and  obligingly  places  under  their  half- 
frozen  feet. 

To-day  I  was  the  honest  fireman.  It  struck  me  rather 
oddly ;  in  all  my  life  I  had  never  done  this  service  ;  had 
never  dreamed  that  I  should  ever  have  to  perform  it.  Had 
I  to  do  it  then  ?  Certainly :  I  had  undertaken  the  duty  of 
the  injured  man,  and  this  was  part  of  his  dut}'.  So  in  five 
minutes  I  was  on  deck,  holding  a  well-heated  iron  in  my 
hands,  which  I  had  protected  by  a  bunch  of  oakum. 

It  was  now  about  noon,  and  the  first  time  I  had  been  on 
deck.  The  atmosphere  was  gray  and  dense  with  mist ;  one 
could  scarcely  see  a  hundred  paces  ahead.  The  wind  was 
contrary,  so  that,  though  it  was  not  violent,  the  boat  pitched 
Jieavily,  and  a  cold  fine  spray  from  the  waves  that  broke 
against  the  bow  swept  continually  over  the  deck. 

The  deck  was  nearly  deserted,  or  at  least  seemed  so,  as 
the  ten  or  twenty  passengers  were  crouching  in  every  corner, 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


397 


behind  the  paddle-boxes,  the  deck-cabin,  and  wherever  any 
projection  offered  a  little  shelter. 

"  Here,  my  friend,  here  !  "  cried  a  voice  that  had  a  familiar 
sound  to  me,  and  turning  suddenly  around,  I  gave  so  violent 
a  start  that  I  had  nearly  dropped  the  plate.  There  stood  a 
man,  who,  though  he  had  now  a  gray  old-fashioned  overcoat 
with  wide  sleeves  over  his  blue  frock-coat  with  gold  buttons, 
and  wore  his  cap  not  pushed  back  from  his  forehead,  as 
usual,  but  pulled  down  over  his  eyes — could  be  no  other  than 
my  old  friend  Commerzienrath  Streber. 

"  Here,  my  friend  !  "  he  cried  again,  and  pointed  with  his 
right  hand,  while  with  his  left  he  held  fast  to  the  capstan,  to 
a  lady  crouching  with  her  back  towards  me  upon  a  low  chair 
behind  a  great  coil  of  cable  at  the  bow  of  the  vessel.  The 
lady  drew  a  large  plaid  cloak,  lined  with  some  soft  and  fine 
material,  close  around  her  slender  figure,  and  turned  her 
face,  which  was  framed  in  a  swan's-down  hood,  towards  me. 

It  was  a  sweet  lovely  girlish  face,  upon  whose  cheeks  the 
sea-breeze  had  kissed  the  delicate  pink  to  a  bright  glow,  and 
whose  deep-blue  brilliant  eyes  contrasted  singularly  with  the 
gray  water  and  the  gray  air.  It  had  been  seven  years  since 
I  saw  this  face  last.  The  child  had  become  a  maiden  ;  but 
the  maiden  had  still  the  face,  or  at  least  the  mouth  and  eyes 
of  the  child,  and  by  this  mouth  and  these  eyes  I  knew  her. 
I  started  involuntarily  and  had  to  grasp  the  plate  firmly  to 
save  it  from  falling  on  the  wet  deck,  while  I  felt  the  blood 
rushing  to  my  cheeks.  It  was  certainly  a  severe  trial  to  ap- 
pear before  the  maiden  who  had  been  my  little  friend  in 
other  days,  in  such  a  costume,  and  with  a  face  embrowned 
with  soot. 

But  this  dress  and  this  sooty  covering  were  what  saved 
me ;  she  looked  up  at  me  with  a  little  surprise  but  without 
recognizing  me. 

"  Lay  it  here,  my  friend,"  she  said,  leaning  back  a  little  in 
her  chair,  and  raising  the  edge  of  her  skirt  a  little,  so  that  I 
had  a  glimpse  of  the  daintiest  little  feet  in  the  world,  rest- 
ing on  their  heels  to  keep  them  from  the  wet  deck. 

I  kneeled,  and  did  what  was  required,  no  more  and  no 
less  ;  perhaps  rather  less  than  more,  for  she  said  : 

"  You  can  bring  me  another  by  and  by,  if  you  have  time ; 
you  do  not  seem  to  have  time  just  now." 


398 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"  Yes  ;  and  bring  one  for  me  at  once  !  "  cried  the  com- 
merzienrath. 

"  And  for  me,  if  I  may  venture  to  ask,"  cried  a  thin  voice 
from  a  corner  between  the  deck-house  and  the  mast,  where 
out  of  some  half-dozen  shawls  and  wrappings  peeped  out  a 
red  nose,  and  in  the  wind  fluttered  a  vellovv  curl  which  could 
belong  to  no  one  but  Fraulein  Amalie  Duff. 


And    for   me  ! 


And   for  me  !  "    cried   a  half-dozen 


other  voices  from  as  many  other  piles  of  mufflings,  whose 
owners,  with  the  promptness  of  desperation,  had  compre- 
hended the  advantage  of  a  hot  iron  plate  on  a  wet  deck. 

"  But  for  me  first !  "  screamed  the  commerzienrath,  get- 
ting alarmed  at  the  competition.  "  You  know  who  I  am, 
don't  you  ?  " 

I  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  assure  the  Herr  Commer- 
zienrath that  I  knew  him  more  than  well  enough,  and 
hastened  away  from  the  deck,  which  was  getting  hotter  to 
me  than  my  furnace.  I  went  below  in  a  very  unenviable 
frame  of  mind,  and  the  thought  that  presently  I  must  go  on 
deck  again  brought  great  beads  of  perspiration  to  my  fore- 
head ;  but  when  I  thought  the  matter  over  I  found  that  my 
agitation  was  merely  occasioned  by  very  ordinary  vanity.  I 
hated  to  appear  before  the  pretty  girl  as  a  sooty  monster — 
this  it  was  and  nothing  more  ;  and  while  I  was  thus  thinking  as 
I  stood  by  the  boiler,  the  plates  upon  it  had  long  reached  the 
needful  temperature,  and  the  steward  had  called  down  three 
times  to  know  if  I  was  not  ready  with  those  confounded  irons. 

"  Be  ashamed  of  yourself !  "  I  said  to  myself ;  "  the  poor 
things  up  there  are  freezing  because  you  happen  to  have  on 
a  ragged  blouse,  and  a  patch  or  two  of  soot  on  your  face. 
Shame  upon  you  !  " 

And  I  was  ashamed  of  myself,  and  went  up  the  ladder  and 
boldly  marched  direct  to  the  place  where  the  poor  half-frozen 
governess  was  crouching  in  her  wet  wrappings. 

Raising  her  water-blue  eyes  to  me  with  the  expression  of 
helpless  misery,  she  said,  while  her  teeth  chattered  with  cold, 
"  You  good  man,  you  are  my  preserver !  " 

"  Why  do  you  not  stay  in  the  cabin  ?  "  I  asked.  I  had  no 
need  to  speak  in  Platt-Deutsch,  or  to  disguise  my  voice, 
which  either  the  sharp  north-easter,  or  my  embarrassment, 
or  both  together,  made  unnaturally  deep  and  rough. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


399 


"  I  should  die  down  there  !  "  moaned  the  poor  creature. 

"  Then  sit  over  there  by  the  paddle-box,  where  you  have 
some  shelter.  You  have  here  the  worst  place  on  the  whole 
deck." 

"  O  you  good  man  !  "  said  the  governess.  "  It  is  indeed 
an  eternal  truth  that  there  are  good  men  in  every  clime." 

I  had  to  bite  my  lips. 

"  Can  I  assist  you  1  "  I  said.  "  If  you  do  not  mind  my 
working-dress " 

"  *  Among  monsters  the  only  feeling  breast,'  "  murmured 
the  governess,  hanging  on  my  arm. 

"  Where  are  you  going,  dear  DufF.^  "  cried  a  joyous  voice 
behind  us,  and  Hermine,  who  had  sprung  from  her  seat, 
came  running  up,  apparently  to  help  her  friend,  but  if  this 
was  her  intention,  she  could  not  carry  it  out  for  laughing. 
She  clapped  her  hands  and  laughed  until  her  white  teeth 
glittered  between  her  red  lips.  "  Pluto  and  Proserpine !"  she 
cried.  "  DufiFchen,  Duffchen,  I  always  said  they  would  carry 
you  off  from  me  some  day !" 

And  she  danced  about  the  wet  deck  in  wild  glee,  just  as 
she  had  danced  with  her  little  spaniel  about  the  deck  of  the 
Penguin  eight  years  before. 

"  Are  you  ever  coming  to  me,  you  fellow  ?"  cried  the  com- 
merzienrath,  who,  squeezed  into  a  corner,  had  watched  my 
attentions  to  the  governess  with  very  ill-pleased  looks. 

"  There  are  two  ladies  here  yet,"  I  said. 

"  But  I  called  you  first,"  he  cried,  stamping  with  impa- 
tience. 

"  Ladies  must  always  be  served  first,  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath,"  smilingly  remarked  the  captain,  who  was  coming  aft 
from  the  forward  deck. 

"  O,  you  can  talk :  you  are  used  to  this  abominable  cold," 
growled  the  commerzienrath. 

I  went  below  again,  but  not  to  stay  long.  The  cry  for 
warm  plates  had  grown  general,  and  a  hard  job  I  had  of  it 
to  satisfy  the  impatient  clamors  from  all  quarters.  The 
weather  had  in  the  mean  time  grown  rougher,  and  the  fog 
increased  in  density.  I  observed  that  the  captain's  jovial 
face  grew  graver  and  graver,  and  once  I  heard  him  say  to  a 
passenger  who  had  the  appearance  of  a  seafaring  man : 

"If  we  were  only  well  out  of  the  cursed  channel  once. 


40O 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


With  this  wind  the  largest  ships  can  come  in  ;  and  we  can 
not  see  a  hundred  paces  ahead." 

I  knew  enough  of  seamanship  fully  to  comprehend  the 
captain's  uneasiness  ;  and  I  had  another  anxiety  of  my  own 
besides. 

My  superior,  namely,  the  engineer  Weiergang,  had  visibly 
with  every  hour  sunk  deeper  and  deeper  into  meditation  upon 
the  felicities  attending  the  copious  indulgence  in  Swedish 
punch  ;  and  though  he  still  mechanically  stood  at  his  post 
and  performed  his  duties  about  the  engine,  where  now,  as 
the  vessel  was  going  steadily  ahead,  there  was  but  little  to 
do,  I  still  did  not  leave  the  engine-room  without  considerable 
uneasiness.  How  easily  might  it  happen  that  the  narrowness 
of  the  channel  should  render  a  complicated  manoeuvre  nec- 
essary, and  was  the  nodding  figure  there  in  a  condition  to 
carry  it  out  ? 

I  had  gone  on  deck  with  another  plate,  intended  for  no 
other  than  the  blue-eyed,  vivacious  beauty.  She  had  re- 
sumed her  old  place  at  the  bow,  and  gave  me  a  friendly  nod 
as  I  approached. 

"  I  give  you  a  great  deal  of  trouble,"  she  said. 

"  No  trouble  at  all,"  I  answered,  with  a  bow. 

"  Are  you  from  Uselin .''  "  she  asked,  while  I  arranged  the 
plate. 

"No,"  I  muttered,  about  to  take  a  hasty  departure. 

" But  you  speak  our  Piatt"  she  said  quickly,  and  looked 
sharply  at  me  with  a  surprised  expression. 

I  felt  that  the  coating  of  soot  on  my  cheeks  must  be  very 
thick  indeed  to  hide  the  flush  which  I  felt  burning  in  my 
cheeks. 

"  Ship  in  sight !  "  suddenly  shouted  the  man  at  the  fore- 
top. 

An  immense  dark  mass  loomed  out  of  the  gray  fog.  A 
feeling  of  terror,  not  for  myself,  seized  me.  I,  too,  shouted 
with  my  whole  strength,  "  Ship  in  sight !  "  and  following  an 
impulse  which  flashed  upon  me  like  lightning,  I  bounded 
across  the  deck  to  the  hatch  leading  to  the  engine-room, 
while  the  captain  upon  the  paddle-box  was  shouting  through 
his  trumpet  like  mad — "  Stop  her  !  Back  her  !  "  an  order 
which  evidently  was  not  obeyed,  for  the  boat  rushed  through 
the  water  with  undiminished  speed. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


401 


How  I  got  down  the  steep  ladder  I  do  not  know.  I  only 
know  that  I  flung  the  drunken  engineer  out  of  the  way, 
pushed  the  lever  to  the  other  side,  and  simultaneously  threw 
open  the  throttle-valve  and  let  on  the  full  head  of  steam. 

A  mighty  shock  followed,  making  the  whole  boat  quiver 
as  it  struggled  in  the  waves,  produced  by  the  reversed 
wheels.  The  push  I  had  given  him,  and,  perhaps  still  more 
the  violent  jar  of  the  boat,  had  awakened  the  drunken  engi- 
neer. In  his  confusion  he  rushed  upon  me  like  a  madman 
to  force  me  from  my  post,  so  that  I  defended  myself  against 
him  with  difficulty. 

It  was  a  terrible  moment.  Every  instant  I  expected  to 
feel  the  crash  of  the  collision. 

But  a  minute  passed,  and  with  it  passed  the  danger,  for  I 
knew  that  by  this  time  the  collision  must  have  taken  place, 
if  we  had  not  escaped  it :  and  now  resounded  through  the 
speaking-trumpet  the  order,  "  Stop  her !  " 

I  placed  the  lever  in  the  middle  and  closed  the  throttle- 
valve.  My  prompt  execution  of  an  order  which  he  had 
plainly  heard  brought  the  engineer  at  once  to  his  senses. 
Now  for  the  first  time  he  seemed  to  understand  what  I  had 
kept  shouting  to  him  while  we  were  struggling  together ;  a 
deathly  pallor  overspread  his  bearded  face,  as  some  one 
came  rapidly  down  the  ladder. 

"  Don't  ruin  me,"  he  murmured. 

It  was  the  captain,  who  wanted  to  see  what  upon  earth  was 
the  matter  below.  Upon  his  good-natured  honest  face  was 
still  the  trace  of  terror  at  the  peril  we  had  just  escaped. 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  this,  Weiergang?  "  he  cried  to  the 
engineer. 

"  I  was — I  had — "  he  stammered. 

"  Seeing  to  the  fire,"  I  put  in. 

"  And  so — "  he  began  again — 

"  We  will  look  into  this  another  time,"  said  the  captain, 
looking  fixedly  at  the  unfortunate  man. 

The  captain  knew  his  man.  He  saw  that  the  man,  what- 
ever might  have  been  his  previous  condition,  was  now  thor- 
oughly sober  and  fit  for  duty. 

"  We  will  look  into  it  later,"  he  repeated,  and  then  turn- 
ing to  me,  said : 

"  Come  on  deck  with  me." 


402 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


I  followed  the  captain,  but  not  without  first  casting  a 
glance  at  the  engineer,  whose  meditations  upon  the  effects 
of  Swedish  punch  were  now  at  an  end,  and  who,  in  despera- 
tion at  the  frightful  results  of  his  indulgence,  cast  a  supplica- 
ting look  at  me. 

"  What  was  the  matter  ?  "  the  captain  asked  me. 

I  held  it  my  duty  to  tell  him  the  whole  truth,  accompany- 
ing it  with  an  entreaty  that  the  man  might  be  forgiven, 

"  He  has  always  been  the  soberest  fellow  in  the  world," 
said  the  captain.  "  This  is  the  first  time  he  has  ever 
behaved  so." 

"  Then  I  trust  it  is  the  last  time,"  I  replied. 

"  I  cannot  comprehend  it,"  said  the  captain.  He  spoke 
with  me  as  if  I  was  his  equal. 

"  You  have  done  me  a  great  service,"  he  continued.  "  Who 
are  you  ?  It  seems  to  me  I  must  have  seen  you  before  ;  and 
the  ladies  on  deck  have  the  same  fancy." 

"  Never  mind  about  that,  captain,"  I  said. 

This  brief  dialogue  took  place  while  we  were  going  up  the 
ladder.  The  captain  could  not  any  further  indulge  the 
curiosity  that  had  visibly  seized  him  ;  he  had  too  much  to 
do. 

My  first  glance,  as  I  reached  the  deck,  was  involuntarily 
directed  towards  the  ship  which  had  so  nearly  been  our  de- 
struction, and  which  now  was  disappearing  in  the  fog  astern 
of  us  ;  my  next  sought  Hermine,  who,  with  her  maid,  was 
busy  recovering  the  governess,  who  had  fainted.  A  sense 
of  satisfaction,  almost  exultation,  filled  my  breast.  Thus 
might  a  general  feel  who  has  won  a  battle  that  he  might  have 
lost  without  disgrace. 

The  poor  governess  was  not  the  only  victim  of  the  terror 
with  which  the  frightfully  imminent  peril  had  filled  the  pas- 
sengers of  the  Elizabeth.  Here  and  there  sat  a  lady  with  a 
face  as  white  as  that  of  a  corpse  ;  even  the  men  looked  pale 
and  agitated,  and  were  just  beginning  to  talk  over  the  occur- 
rence. And,  in  fact,  the  situation  must  have  been  in  the 
highest  degree  alarming.  The  approaching  ship — a  mer- 
chantman of  the  largest  size — had  been  so  negligently  steered 
that  the  Elizabeth,  though  her  engines  were  reversed  and  the 
full  head  of  steam  turned  on,  only  escaped  the  collision  by  a 
few  feet.     Then  the  shock  that  shook  the  boat,  the  crack- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


403 


ing  and  creaking  of  the  planks,  the  crash  of  some  half-dozen 
of  the  paddles  that  snapped  at  once — one  did  not  need 
Friiulein  Amalie  Duff's  susceptibility  of  nerves  to  be  over- 
whelmed at  such  a  moment. 

Even  now  the  state  of  things  was  not  agreeable.  The 
large  steamer  rolled  in  the  heavy  sea  all  the  more  violently 
now  the  engine  had  been  stopped,  on  account  of  the  injury 
to  the  wheels.  Happily  the  wind  was  favorable,  and  sail  was 
quickly  made,  so  that  we  were  able  to  Control  her  with  the 
helm.  All  the  spare  hands  were  busy  repairing  the  paddles 
as  far  as  possible,  and  I  had  learned  enough  of  the  carpen- 
ter's craft  to  lend  a  hand  at  once.  I  was  not  sorry  in  this 
way  to  avoid  the  inquisitive  eyes  of  Hermine,  and  of  Frau- 
lein  Duff,  who  possessed  the  talent  of  recovering  from  a 
swoon  as  promptly  as  she  had  fallen  into  it,  and  was  now 
engaged  in  a  conversation  with  her  pupil  and  friend,  which 
it  could  scarcely  be  doubted  had  some  reference  to  me. 

"  Look  as  much  as  you  please,"  I  said  to  myself  "  I  am, 
in  spite  of  all,  no  worse  than  many  another  upon  whom  you 
have  cast  or  will  cast  your  beautiful  eyes." 

And  yet  I  was  glad,  as  she  seemed  about  to  come  over  to 
the  place  where  I  was  standing,  that  I  could  creep  into  the 
open  paddle-box,  where  things  looked  queer  enough.  As 
there  was  a  heavy  sea  running  we  were  obliged  to  confine 
our  repairs  to  the  merest  make-shift. 

In  an  hour  the  work  was  done,  and  we  were  ordered  to 
the  forward  deck,  where  the  bowsprit  of  the  passing  ship 
had  carried  away  a  part  of  the  bulwarks. 

I  congratulated  myself,  when  I  crept  out  of  the  paddle-box, 
that  the  deck  was  nearly  deserted,  and  especially  that 
Hermine  was  nowhere  to  be  seen  ;  but  as  I  passed  the  fore- 
castle she  suddenly  appeared  before  me  with  her  govern- 
ess. The  meeting  was  not  accidental,  for  the  duenna  at 
once  stepped  back,  but  the  young  lady  remained  standing, 
and,  looking  up  with  her  great  blue  eyes  into  mine,  asked 
boldly  : 

"  Are  you  George  Hartwig,  or  are  you  not  ? " 

"  I  am,"  I  replied. 

"  How  came  you  here  ?  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  Are 
you  a  sailor,  or  fireman,  or  what  ?  And  why  ?  Can  you 
do  nothing  better  ?     Is  this  a  fit  place  for  you  ? " 


404 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


These  questions  followed  each  other  so  rapidly  that  I  con- 
tented myself  with  answering  the  last. 

"  Why  not  ?     It  is  no  disgrace  to  be  a  fireman." 

"  But  you  look  so — so  black — so  sooty — so  frightful.  I 
cannot  bear  such  black  men.  You  used  to  look  much,  very 
much  better." 

I  did  not  know  what  to  answer  to  this,  so  I  merely 
shrugged  my  shoulders. 

"  You  must  come  away  from  here ! "  said  the  young 
beauty,  vivaciously.     "  This  is  no  place  for  you." 

"  And  yet  it  was  very  well  that  I  was  here  to-day,"  I 
said  with  a  touch  of  pride,  of  which  I  felt  ashamed  as  soon  as 
I  had  said  it. 

"  I  know  it,"  she  answered.  "  The  captain  told  us.  It 
is  like  you  ;  but  for  that  very  reason  you  should  not  stay 
here.     You  are  destined  to  something  better  than  this." 

"  I  thank  you,  Fraulein  Hermine,  for  your  kind  interest," 
I  answered  gravely  ;  "  but  what  I  am  destined  to,  the  result 
must  show.  In  the  mean  time  I  must  pursue  my  way, 
wherever  it  leads  me." 

She  looked  at  me  partly  in  displeasure,  and  partly,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  with  compassion,  and  added  quickly : 

"  You  are  poor :  perhaps  that  is  the  reason  you  are  here 
and  look  so — so — not  nice.  My  father  must  help  you  :  he 
is  very  rich." 

*'  I  know  it,  my  dear  young  lady,"  I  replied  :  "  but  just  for 
that  reason  I  do  not  desire  his  help." 

A  bright  glow  suffused  her  cheeks ;  her  blue  eyes  flashed, 
and  her  red  lips  quivered." 

"  Then  I  will  detain  you  no  further." 

She  turned  quickly  from  me  and  hastened  away. 

I  was  still  standing  in  the  same  place,  when  Fraulein  Duff 
came  suddenly  from  behind  the  corner  of  the  forecastle, 
where  she  had  been  an  attentive  if  an  invisible  witness  of 
our  interview.  Her  watery  eyes,  in  which  sympathetic  tears 
were  now  standing,  were  raised  to  mine,  and  she  whispered 
in  her  softest  tones,  "  Seek  faithfully,  and  you  will  find  !  " 
Then  prudently  avoiding  a  reply  on  my  part,  she  hurried 
after  her  young  lady. 

An  hour  later  we  touched  at  the  wharf  of  St. . 

I  was  below  in    the  engine-room,  where  there  was   now 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  405 

enough  to  do,  to  my  great  satisfaction.  I  heard  the  noises 
upon  deck,  as  the  passengers  hastened  to  leave  the  ship 
on  board  which  they  had  passed  so  unpleasant  a  time.  She 
also  was  leaving  it — perhaps  at  this  moment.  It  was  very 
improbable  that  I  should  ever  see  her  again.  Why  should 
I,  indeed  ? 

The  question  seemed  a  matter  of  course,  and  yet  I  sighed 
as  I  asked  it  of  myself 

My  leave-taking  of  the  engineer  was  brief,  but  not  un- 
friendly. He  had  already  told  me  that  he  had  "  made  it  all 
right  with  the  captain."  He  seemed  at  bottom  a  worthy 
man,  and  I  parted  from  him  with  a  mind  at  ease. 

I  had  hoped  to  slip  away  from  the  boat  unp>erceived,  but 
the  captain  called  to  me  as  I  was  crossing  the  deck  with 
my  bundle.  He  told  me  that  he  had  learned  that  I  was  the 
son  of  the  late  Customs-Accountant  Hartwig  in  Uselin, 
whom  he  had  known  well.  He  had  also  heard  of  my  mis- 
fortunes, but  they  were  no  affair  of  his.  I  had  this  day  done 
the  owners,  and  himself  personally,  an  important  service,  and 
it  was  his  duty  to  thank  me  for  it,  and  to  ask  me  if  his 
owners  and  himself  could  not  in  some  way  testify  their  grat- 
itude. 

I  said,  "  Yes  ;  you  can  if  you  will  take  something  more 
than  common  care  of  the  man  whose  place  I  have  filled  to- 
day, and  who  would  have  done  what  I  did  had  he  been 
here." 

The  captain  saw  that  it  was  no  use  to  press  me  further ; 
so  he  promised  faithfully  to  comply  with  my  request,  and 
shook  my  hand  heartily,  saying  that  it  would  give  him  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  meet  me  again. 

This  had  occupied  some  time,  and  yet  a  carriage  and 
horses,  which  I  had  noticed  on  the  arrival  of  the  steamer, 
were  still  standing  on  the  wharf  Just  as  I  approached 
them,  however,  they  started  off ;  but  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  a 
youthful  face  in  a  swan's-down  hood  vanishing  from  the  win- 
dow, from  which  it  had  been  looking  at  something  or  some 
one  on  the  wharf 

The  luxurious  carriage  rolled  away,  and  I  gazed  after  it 
with  a  sigh.  Not  that  I  coveted  the  carriage  with  the  two 
high-mettled  bays.  The  distance  from  St. to  the  capi- 
tal was  more  than  eighty  miles,  it  was  true,  and  I  was 


4o6 


Hammer  and  Anvil: 


obliged  to  economize  the  little  sum  I  had  saved  up  in  the 
prison  :  but  I  knew  that  I  could  walk  without  much  fatigue 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  a  day,  and  I  felt  fresher  and 
stronger  than  ever.  It  was  therefore  scarcely  the  carriage 
with  the  mettled  bays  for  which  my  sighing  heart  was 
yearning. 


CHAPTER   XIX 


I  HAD  travelled  during  the  day  a  long  distance  upon  an 
interminable  turnpike-road  where  the  rows  of  poplars 
on  each  side  stretched  away  until  they  met  at  the  hori- 
zon in  an  acute  angle  which  never  widened,  never  came  nearer, 
and  whose  unattainability  was  enough  to  drive  the  most  pa- 
tient traveller  to  desperation.  The  autumn  rains  had  made 
the  roads  heavy  and  slippery  to  the  feet.  All  the  morning 
the  wind  had  rustled  with  a  melancholy  sound  in  the  half- 
leafless  poplars,  and  about  noon  it  had  commenced  to  rain, 
and  wet  and  dreary  looked  the  sandy  heaths  and  desolate 
fields  on  either  side  the  road,  while  every  human  creature 
and  every  animal  that  I  met  wore  a  cheerless  and  dejected 
aspect.  I  had  already  given  up  the  expectation  of  reaching 
the  city  that  evening,  so  I  felt  it  as  an  unhoped-for  piece  of 
good  fortune  when  I  saw  a  reddish-yellow  glare  of  misty 
light  rising  above  the  horizon,  which  a  solitary  wanderer 
whom  I  had  overtaken  explained  to  be  the  reflection  of  the 
city-lights.  And  now  indeed  my  enemies,  the  poplars,  began 
to  give  place  to  suburban  houses.  The  suburb  was  long 
enough,  it  is  true,  but  houses  can  not  hold  out  as  long  as 
poplars ;  and — "There  is  the  gate,"  said  at  last  my  com- 
panion, and  bade  me  good  evening. 

There  was  the  gate.  It  was  by  no  means  imposing,  and 
did  not  attract  much  attention  from  me.  This,  however,  was 
excited  by  an  accumulation  of  buildings  immediately,  to  the 
left  of  the  gate,  which  by  their  size,  and  the  ruddy  light  shin- 
ing through  colossal  windows,  I  inferred  to  belong  to  a 
large  manufactory.  A  high  iron  railing  divided  the  court- 
yard from  the  street,  and  in  this  railing  was  a  wide  gate,  one 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


407 


side  of  which  was  standing  open  for  the  egress  of  the  work- 
men, who  were  coming  out,  first  one  by  one,  then  in  groups, 
and  finally  in  a  compact  throng.  Outside  the  gate,  they 
scattered  in  various  directions,  while  some  remained  in 
groups  about  the  gate,  talking  with  animation.  I  heard  the 
words  "  day's  wages,"  "piece  work,"  "  quitting  service,"  "  no- 
tification," frequently  repeated  ;  but  I  could  not  catch  the  con- 
nection, and  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  ask  any  questions. 
Nearer  to  the  railing,  with  her  back  toward  me,  was  standing 
a  young  woman  holding  in  front  of  her  a  little  boy,  who  stood 
upon  the  stone  foundation  of  the  railing  and  held  fast  to  the 
bars,  gazing  eagerly  into  the  yard,  down  which  dark  figures 
were  still  coming,  though  in  fewer  numbers. 

"  What  factory  is  this  ?  "  I  asked,  stepping  up  to  the  young 
woman. 

She  turned  her  head  and  answered,  "  The  machine-works 
of  Commerzienrath  Streber.  Keep  still,  George;  your  father 
will  be  along  directly." 

The  feeble  light  of  a  street-lamp  fell  upon  her  pretty 
round  face.  The  commerzienrath's  machine- works — George, 
whose  father  was  coming  directly — the  good-natured  bright 
eyes — the  full,  red  lips — I  could  not  be  mistaken. 

"  Christel  Mowe  !  "  I  said  ;  "  Christel  Pinnow  !  is  this 
really  you?" 

"  Bless  my  heart  alive  !  "  exclaimed  the  young  woman, 
hastily  putting  down  the  child  from  the  railing  ;  "  is  it  you, 
Herr  George  t  See,  George,  this  is  your  godfather  ; "  and 
she  held  up  the  boy  as  high  as  she  could,  that  he  might  have 
a  better  view  of  so  important  a  personagre,  "  How  dad 
Klaus  will  be ! "  r  ^  & 

She  put  the  boy  down  again,  who  no  sooner  felt  himself 
at  liberty  than  he  began  to  try  his  best  to  climb  up  to  the 
railing  again.  I  took  him  in  my  arms.  "  Are  you  a  giant  ? " 
asked  the  little  man,  patting  my  head  with  his  hands. 

At  this  moment  a  square-built,  grimy  figure  came  up,  ap- 
parently rather  surprised  to  see  his  wife  in  such  familiar  con- 
versation with  a  strange  man,  who  had  moreover  his  George 
in  his  arms ;  but  before  either  Christel  or  I  could  say  a 
word  he  tore  his  black  felt  cap  from  his  head,  waved  it  in 
the  air  like  a  conquering  banner,  and  shouted,  "  Hurrah ! 
here  he  is !    George  has  come !  " 


4o8 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


It  was  long  since  any  human  lungs  had  emitted  a  cry  of 
joy  on  my  account,  and  it  was  probably  owing  to  this  nov- 
elty that  at  the  good  Klaus's  exuberant  greeting  my  eyes 
filled  with  tears,  so  that  the  whole  scene — the  factory,  the 
houses,  the  street-lamps,  the  passing  carriages,  the  black 
workmen,  and  even  the  little  group  of  friends  at  my  side — 
swam  for  a  moment  in  a  misty  veil. 

This  emotion  passed  in  a  few  moments,  and  we  went  on 
together,  Klaus  holding  the  little  George  on  one  arm,  and 
clinging  to  the  great  George  with  the  other,  while  Christel 
walked  before,  every  instant  looking  over  her  shoulder  at  us 
with  a  Smiling  face. 

Happily  the  distance  through  the  crowded  street  was  not 
long,  and  we  soon  reached  a  large  and,  to  my  eyes,  stately 
house,  the  inside  of  which  corresponded  but  poorly  to  its  ex- 
terior. The  hall  was  dimly  lighted,  and  the  floors  black 
with  dirt  from  innumerable  footsteps  that  seemed  to  have 
traversed  it  the  same  day.  The  yard  into  which  we  passed 
was  surrounded  by  lofty  buildings,  behind  whose  windows, 
feebly  lighted  here  and  there,  there  did  not  prevail  that  peace 
which  a  lover  of  quiet  would  have  preferred.  The  stone 
staircase  which  we  ascended  to  one  of  these  rear-buildings 
was  very  steep,  and,  if  possible,  worse  lighted  and  dirtier 
than  the  hall  we  had  just  entered.  Persons  passed  us  at 
every  moment,  who  seemed  far  more  reckless  of  the  rules  of 
politeness  than  was  pleasant.  I  felt  rather  uncomfortable 
as  we  climbed  from  one  landing  to  another,  following  Klaus, 
who  gave  no  signs  of  halting,  and  at  last  in  desperation  I 
asked  if  we  would  not  soon  be  there. 

"  Here  we  are  !  "  said  Klaus,  knocking  at  a  door,  which 
was  immediately  opened  from  within,  and  from  which,  as  it 
was  opened,  issued  that  penetrating  odor  which  arises  in  an 
apartment  where  all  day  long  the  process  of  ironing  freshly- 
starched  linen  is  kept  up.  Any  illusion  as  to  the  origin  of 
this  odor  was  the  less  possible,  as  the  irons  were  at  this  mo- 
ment in  operation  in  the  hands  of  two  young  women,  who, 
as  well  as  the  third  who  had  opened  the  door  for  us,  cast 
glances  of  curiosity  at  the  new  arrival.  ,  ) 

"  So  it  goes  on  the  whole  day,"  said  Klaus,  with  a  glance 
of  profoundest  admiration  at  his  wife,  who  had  joined  the 
ironers ;  "  the  whole  day — only  in  the  evening  she  allows 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


409 


herself  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  fetch  me  home  from  the 

works."  „      . ,  -r  •        •    X    • 

"  You  are  a  lucky  fellow,  Klaus,"  said  I,  in  vain  trying  to 

draw  a  full  breath  in  this  atmosphere. 

"  Am  I  not }  "  replied  Klaus,  showing  all  his  teeth,  which 
had  lost  nothing  of  their  glittering  whiteness  ;^  "  but  that  is 
not  much  yet.     You  must  first  see  her  babies  !  " 

"  And  yours,  Klaus  .?" 

"  And  mine,  of  course,"  Klaus  answered,  in  a  tone  which 
implied  that  it  really  was  not  worth  while  to  allude  to  so 
unimportant  a  particular.     "  You  must  first  see  them  !  " 

"  I  know  one  already." 

"  Yes  ;  but  the  others  !  Her  very  image,  every  one  !  It 
is  really  ridiculous — really  ridiculous,"  he  repeated,  with  an- 
other glance  of  admiration  at  his  little  plump  wife. 

"  You  don't  know  what  you  are  talking  about,  you  stupid 
fellow,"  said  the  latter,  turning  sharply  around,  and  laying  a 
hand  that  bore  traces  of  hard  work,  and  yet  was  both  white 
and  small,  on  the  mouth  of  her  Klaus.  "  Let  us  go  into  the 
sitting-room.  You  must  excuse  me  for  keeping  you  here  so 
long." 

We  went  into  the  room,  but  Klaus  did  not  rest  until  his 
wife  had  taken  us  into  the  chamber,  where,  beside  two  large 
beds,  stood  four  little  cribs,  in  which  were  sleeping  four 
charming  children,  for  my  little  namesake  had  by  this  time 
been  put  to  bed  by  one  of  the  young  women. 

"  Isn't  that  too  lovely  !"  said  Klaus,  drawing  me  from  one 
blond  head  to  another ;  "  and  all  boys — all  boys  ;  but  that 
just  suits  me :  a  girl  I  should  expect  to  be  exactly  like  her, 
and  that  is  a  simple  impossibility — a  simple  impossibility." 

Here  Christel  pushed  me  out  of  the  bedroom,  as  she  had 
before  pushed  me  out  of  the  kitchen. 

"  You  stay  here,"  she  said  to  her  husband,  "  and  wash 
yourself,  and  fix  yourself  up  decent,  you  great  bear,  as  you 
ought  when  we  have  such  a  visitor." 

Klaus  showed  his  teeth  with  delight  at  his  Christel's  jest. 

"  Whatever  I  do,  pleases  him,"  said  Christel,  shutting  the 
door  with  mock-disgust  at  his  black  face. 

"  Better  that  than  if  it  were  the  other  way,"  I  said. 

"  Yes  :  but  sometimes  he  carries  it  too  far.  I  often  am 
ashamed,  and  wonder  what  people  think  of  it.  And  he  gets 
18 


4IO 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


worse  every  year ;  I  really  don't  know  what  I  shall  do  when 
the  children  are  older ;  I  often  think  they  will  lose  all  respect 
for  their  father." 

While  Christel  thus  unbosomed  her  secret  woe,  she  was 
neatly  and  deftly  setting  the  table,  while  I,  standing  before 
the  stove,  in  which  a  cheerful  fire  was  burning,  thought  of 
by-gone  times  :  of  that  evening  when  I  met  the  Wild  Zehren 
first  at  Pinnow's  forge,  and  how  Christel  had  set  the  table 
and  waited,  and  how  she  afterwards  besought  me  not  to  go 
with  him.  Had  I  then  followed  her  counsel !  All  would 
have  been  different.  Perhaps  better,  perhaps  not.  But  so 
it  had  happened,  and 

"You  must  put  up  with  what  we  have,"  said  Christel. 

"  That  I  will,  Christel,  that  I  will  ! "  I  said,  seizing  both 
her  hands  and  pressing  them  with  a  warmth  which  seemed  a 
little  to  startle  her. 

"  How  wild  you  are  still,"  she  said,  looking  up  at  me  with 
her  blue  eyes  in  surprise,  but  with  no  mixture  of  displeasure. 
"  Exactly  as  you  used  to  be.." 

"  You  don't  like  me  any  the  less  on  that  account,  Christel, 
do  you  ? " 

She  shook  her  head  smiling  :  '*'  Those  used  to  be  lively 
times." 

"  In  winter,  over  the  mulled  wine,"  I  said. 

"  And  in  summer,  over  the  kaltschale"  she  replied. 

"  Especially  when  the  old  man  was  not  at  home,"  I 
added. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  she  said;  but  her  countenance  took  a 
serious  expression,  and  she  continued,  looking  at  me  gravely, 
"  you  know  it  then  ?  " 

"  Know  what,  Christel  ? " 

"That  he " 

She  laid  her  finger  upon  her  lips  and  drew  me,  with  an 
uneasy  look  at  the  chamber-door,  further  back  into  the  room. 

"  He  must  not  hear  it — he  has  not  got  over  it  yet,  though 
it  is  now  more  than  three  months  ago." 

"  What  was  three  months  ago,  Christel  ? "  I  asked  in 
some  alarm,  for  the  young  woman  had  turned  quite  pale,  and 
cast  uneasy  glances  first  at  me  and  then  at  the  bed-room 
door. 

"  I  hardly  know  how  to  tell  you,"  she  said.     "  He  lived  at 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  411 

last  entirely  alone,  for  no  one  would  have  anything  to  do 
with  him,  and  even  the  deaf  and  dumb  Jacob  left  him.  No- 
body knew  exactly  how  he  lived  ;  and  for  a  week  no  one 
had  seen  him,  until  one  day  the  collector  came  for  the  house- 
tax,  and — and  found  him  hanging  in  the  forge,  over  the 
hearth,  where  he  must  have  been  hanging  nobody  knows  how 
long," 

"  Poor  Klaus  !  "  I  said.  "  He  must  have  felt  it  deeply,  m 
spite  of  all." 

"  Indeed  he  did,"  said  Christel.  "  And  no  one  knows 
how  he  came  to  his  death ;  whether  he  did  it  himself,  or 
whether  it  was  done  by  others  ;  for  they  swore — at  that  time, 
you  know — that  they  would  settle  with  him  one  day." 

"  Very  likely,  very  likely,"  I  said. 

"  Here  I  am  again,"  said  Klaus,  coming  in  in  his  best 
coat,  and  with  a  face  as  red  as  cold  water,  black  soap,  and  a 
coarse  towel,  all  applied  in  haste,  could  make  it. 

The  supper,  at  which  Christel's  young  assistants  joined  us, 
was  soon  over,  and  after  the  cloth  had  been  removed,  the 
girls  dismissed,  and  Christel  had  mixed  us  a  glass  of  grog, 
for  which  she  had  not  forgotten  her  old  recipe,  Klaus  and  I 
fell  into  such  discourse  as  naturally  arises  between  old 
friends  who  have  not  seen  each  other  for  many  years,  and 
have  gone  through  many  experiences  in  the  interval.  I  had 
to  narrate  to  Klaus  the  story  of  my  imprisonment  from  that 
time  in  the  first  year  when  he  paid  me  that  memorable  visit, 
which  was  within  a  hair  of  bringing  him  into  contact  with 
the  criminal  law.  Not  that  I  could  tell  him,  or  even  desired 
to  tell  him,  everything,  good  fellow  as  he  was.  We  do  not 
admit  our  friends,  even  the  most  intimate,  behind  the  inmost 
of  the  seven  walls  with  which  we  prudently  surround  the  cita- 
del of  our  soul ;  but  enough  came  to  discourse  to  arouse  the 
interest  of  the  good  Klaus  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  quite  pas- 
sionate was  his  sympathy  when  I  came  to  speak  of  the  last 
period  of  my  imprisonment,  when  I  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  new  superintendent  and  his  accomplice,  the  pious  Dea- 
con Von  Krossow,  and  in  seven  worse  than  lean  months  had 
to  expiate  the  seven  years  of  fatness  which  I  had  hitherto  en- 
joyed. 

"  The  wretches  !  The  villains  !  Is  it  possible  ?  Are 
such  things  allowed  1 "  the  good  Klaus  kept  muttering. 


412  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Whether  it  is  allowed  or  not,  my  dear  Klaus,  I  cannot 
say  ;  but  that  it  is  possible  is  only  too  certain.  Under  the 
most  frivolous  pretexts  in  the  world  I  was  deprived  of  my 
place  as  secretary,  and  treated  as  an  unusually  ill-disposed 
and  contumacious  prisoner ;  and  as  all  that  did  not  satisfy 
their  vengeance,  I  was  ordered  seven  months  of  disciplinary 
punishment  beside." 

"  And  what  did  the  good  old  overseer  whom  I  saw  with 
you  that  day  say  to  that .''  " 

"  Sergeant  Siissmilch  ?  He  would  have  sworn  terribly,  I 
promise  you,  if  he  had  seen  it.  Fortunately,  he  went  away 
with  the  family  of  Herr  von  Zehren  a  week  after  the  death 
of  the  latter." 

"  I  would  never  have  done  that,"  said  Klaus  with  empha- 
sis •.  I  would  never  have  left  you  alone  in  their  robber-den." 

"  But  he  had  other  claims  upon  him,  of  longer  standing, 
Klaus."  "  I 

"  All  the  same  :  I  would  not  have  left  you." 

Then  I  told  how  I  had  been  discharged  at  last,  how  my 
first  visit  had  been  to  my  native  town,  and  the  reception  I 
met  with  there. 

"  Poor  George  !  poor  George  !  "  said  Klaus,  over  and  over 
again,  shaking  his  big  head  in  sympathy. 

"  But  you  have  had  a  harder  trial  still,  poor  fellow,"  I 
said. 

"  Who  told  you  that  ?  "  asked  Klaus,  quickly. 

"  She  did,"  I  answered,  pointing  to  the  room  in  which 
Christel  had  been  for  the  last  five  minutes  busied  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  quiet  the  wails  of  her  youngest. 

"  Hush,"  said  Klaus,  "  we  must  not  speak  of  it  so  that 
she  can  hear  ;  it  is  different  with  us  men,  but  a  little  woman 
like  that — it  always  has  a  dreadful  effect  upon  her,  poor 
thing :  I  am  frightened  whenever  any  legal  paper  comes  in 
about  the  adjustment  of  the  estate — ^you  understand." 

"  Your  father  left  a  \^ry  respectable  sum,  did  he  not  ? " 

"  God  forbid,"  said  Klaus.  "  They  must  have  robbed  him, 
or  else  he  buried  it ;  and  either  is  very  possible,  for  at  last 
he  did  not  trust  in  any  human  creature,  and  had  little  reason 
to,  God  knows.  And  he  always  had  a  secret  way  in  every- 
thing. Just  think ;  we  believed  that  Christel  had  floated  to 
land,  as  naked  and  destitute  as  a  fish  flung  up  by  the  tide, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  413 

without  the  least  possibility  of  discovering  the  name  of  the 
ship  in  which  she  was  wrecked,  much  less  her  own.  And 
what  does  she  find  in  the  great  cupboard,  opposite  the  door, 
you  know,  but  a  bundle  of  papers  in  a  tin  case,  which  evi- 
dently belonged  to  the  same  ship ;  these  papers  were  the 
I  captain's,  and  his  name  is  written  in  them,  with  the  name  of 

I  the  ship,  and  how  he  was  married,  and  that  his  young  wife 

I  had  given  birth  to  a  child  at  sea  ;  and  there  was  a  slip  of 

I  paper  besides,  saying  that  the  ship  could  not  now  be  saved, 

I  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  save  their  lives,  so  he  would 

I  fasten  the  child  and  the  papers,  which  he  had  put  in  a  tin 

I  case,  to  a  piece  of  cork,  and  trust  them  to  the  sea  and  to 

I  God's  mercy.     So  there  is  no  doubt  that  my  Christel  is  this 

I  child  of  the  Dutch  captain,  whose  name  was  Tromp> — Peter 

Tromp,  and  his  ship  The  Prince  of  Orange,  and  he  was  on 
his  way  home  from  Java.     But  I  am  not  the  least  surprised 
at  it  all,"  Klaus  concluded  ;  "  I  should  not  be  surprised  if 
I  she  had  turned  out  to  be  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  of 

Morocco " 

"  And  had  come  down  from  the  sky  in  a  chariot  drawn  by 
twelve  peacocks,"  I  said. 

"  No ;  not  even  then,"  replied  Klaus,  with  immense  em- 
phasis, after  a  moment's  reflection. 

"  And  what  have  you  done  with  the  papers  ?"  I  inquired, 


I  with  a  smile. 

"  I  have  had  them  translated  ;  nothing  else." 

"  But  that  is  not  right,"  I  said.  "  The  papers  might  pos- 
sibly lead  to  the  discovery  of  a  rich  uncle,  or  something  of 
the  sort.     Such  things  have  happened  before,  Klaus." 

"  That  is  just  what  Doctor  Snellius  says." 

"  Who  says  }"  I  asked  in  astonishment. 

"  Doctor  Snellius,"  Klaus  repeated.  "Your  old  friend  in 
the  prison.  He  is  now  the  physician  to  the  factory  :  did  he 
never  write  to  tell  you  ?" 

"  No ;  or  else  the  letter  was  intercepted,  which  is  very 
possible.  So  he  is  your  doctor,  eh  i" — the  doctor  of  the  fac- 
tory, I  mean." 

"  Well,  yes  j  I  call  him  so,  because  he  is  always  sent  for 
when  anything  happens ;  but  in  truth  he  is,  I  believe,  the 
doctor  of  all  the  poor  in  this  part  of  the  city." 

"  He  must  have  a  heavy  practice,  then." 


m 


414  Hammer  and  Anvil. 


a 


Heaven  knows  he  has  ;  but  he  will  never  grow  rich 
with  it,  for  he  never  takes  a  penny  unless  they  can  well 
spare  it,  which  is  not  often  the  case,  and  frequently  he  ' 
gives  them  medicine  besides.  Ah,  he  has  a  noble  soul ; 
though  he  always  seems  as  if  he  were  going  to  eat  you 
up,  and  the  children  scream  whenever  he  comes  in  the 
door." 

^'  And  he  is  your  doctor  too,  then  ?"  ■         .  I 

"  Oh  yes,  of  course  :  that  is,  we  have  really  only  called 
him  in  once — the  last  time — very  much  against  Christel's  will, 

who  insisted  that but  that  you  will   not  understand  ;  a 

married  man's  cares,  you  know ;  and  she  was  quite  right,  as 
it  happened " 

"As  always,  Klaus."  ' 

"As  always." 

"  And  why  do  you  not  make  some  investigations  about 
those  papers  ?" 

Klaus  scratched  his  ear.  I 

"  Well,  I  don't  know,"  he  said.  "  We  feel  somehow — 
we  are  living  so  happily  now,  and  I  always  think  things  can 
not  be  better  ;  more  likely  worse.  If  she  really  had  a  rich 
aunt — we  always  suppose  it  is  an  aunt — and  she  should  leave 
her  property  to  Christel,  what  in  the  world  should  we  do 
with  all  the  money?     I  can't  think,  for  my  part." 

"  Suppose,  for  example,  you  lent  it  to  me :  I  should  know 
what  to  do  with  it." 

"  Yes,  that  is  true,"  cried  Klaus,  "  I  never  thought  of  that. 
That  would  be  something  for  you,  sure  enough.  To-morrow 
morning  I  will  advertise  in  all  the  papers :  I'll  bring  the 
aunt  if  she  lives  a  hundred  thousand  miles  off." 

"  But  suppose  it  is  an  uncle  ?  "  .       -       '  I 

"  No,  no,  it  is  an  aunt,"  said  Klaus,  with  an  air  of  assur- 
ance. 

"  So  be  it !  "  said  I,  arising.  "  And  now  let  us  take  a 
little  walk.     I  must  take  a  look  at  my  new  home."  | 

There  is  probably  no  time  in  the  twenty-four  hours  better 
fitted  to  impress  a  provincial  with  the  greatness  of  a  large 
city  than  the  twilight  of  a  gloomy  autumn  evening.  In  men 
of  any  liveliness  of  imagination  the  reality  usually  falls  short 
of  the  fancy,  but  in  an  hour  like  this  the  reality  and  the  fancy — • 
what  we  perceive  and  what  we  imagine — blend  indistinguish- 


Hammer  a7id  Anvil.  415 

ably  together,   and  the  barriers  of  the  actual  world  seem 
broken  down. 

Such  an  evening  was  it  when  I  strolled  with  Klaus  through 
the  streets  of  the  city,  which  seemed  enormous  and  gigantic 
in  my  eyes.  Even  now  I  can  sometimes  in  the  evening,  and 
for  a  moment,  behold  it  in  the  same  light  and  with  the  same 
feelings  as  then.  Coming  from  a  region  inhabited  by  work- 
men, we  crossed  in  our  walk  one  of  the  most  brilliant  quar- 
ters to  reach  the  city  proper,  and  returned  through  large 
squares,  surrounded  by  magnificent  palaces,  to  our  own 
gloomy  region  again.  And  everywhere  was  the  throng  of 
hurrying  crowds  on  the  narrow  sidewalks,  and  the  rattle  and 
thunder  of  vehicles,  and  the  endless  rows  of  lamps  up  and 
down  the  interminable  streets,  and  the  blaze  of  light  from 
the  shops  illuminating  the  streets  so  that  the  figures  of  men, 
wagons  and  horses  were  strangely  reflected  from  the  wet 
pavement.  Then  the  imposing  masses  of  tall  buildings, 
rising  above  one  another  like  mountains  ;  the  sight  here  of  a 
bronze  equestrian  statue  upon  a  pedestal,  high  as  a  house, 
riding  aloft  through  the  night,  and  then  of  a  giant  figure 
pointing  down  at  us  with  a  drawn  sword  ;  wide  bridges  with 
balustrades  peopled  with  white  marble  forms,  and  under 
whose  arches  rolled  a  black  flood  upon  which  quivered  the 
reflections  of  a  thousand  lights ;  a  glance  into  the  shops 
where  to  uninitiated  eyes  the  treasures  of  Arabia  and  the 
Indies  seemed  heaped  up  by  fairy  hands  ;  dark  yards,  where, 
late  as  it  was,  mighty  casks  and  chests  were  being  piled  by 
leather-aproned  men — I  walked,  and  stopped  to  gaze,  and 
went  on,  and  stopped  again,  staring,  astonished,  but  not 
confounded,  and  altogether  strangely  happy.  Was  this  the 
sea  of  ever-rolling  life,  engulfing  itself  and  ever  producing 
itself  anew,  towards  which  my  teacher's  prophecy  had  di- 
rected me — the  sea  whose  mighty  billows,  if  he  had  fore- 
seen truly,  where  to  be  my  home  ?  Yes :  this  it  was  :  this  it 
must  be.  I  felt  it  in  the  courageous  beatings  of  my  heart, 
in  the  power  with  which  I  clove  this  surge  of  men,  in  the 
delight  with  which  I  listened  to  the  roar  of  this  surf. 


416  Hammer  and  Anvil. 


Part    Third. 


v>-v 


CHAPTER    I, 


IN  the  machine-works  of  the  commerzienrath  a  great 
boiler  was  being  riveted.  Three  sooty  workmen,  with 
shirt-sleeves  rolled  above  the  elbows,  and  hammers  in 
their  strong  hands,  were  waiting  for  the  red-hot  bolt  which  a 
fourth  was  bringing  in  the  jaws  of  a  pair  of  pincers  from  an 
adjacent  forge.  The  bolt  vanished  into  the  boiler,  and  ap- 
peared in  a  few  seconds  through  the  rivet-hole  ;  the  cyclops 
grasped  their  hammers  firmly,  and,  striking  in  measured  ca- 
dence, finished  the  rivet-head.  This  hammering  produced  a 
tremendous  noise. 

And  if  any  one  had  told  a  spectator,  uninitiated  to  the 
craft,  that  in  the  hollow  of  the  boiler  upon  which  the  heavy 
hammers  fell  with  such  deafening  clangor,  there  lay  a  man 
upon  his  back  who  received  the  rivet  in  a  pair  of  pincers, 
and  with  these  exerted  all  his  strength  in  resistance,  while 
the  hammers  were  ringing  on  the  rivet-head,  the  uninitiated 
spectator  would  scarce  have  believed  it,  and  he  could  not 
fail  to  consider  the  man  in  the  hollow  of  the  boiler  as  one 
of  the  most  miserable  and  most  to  be  pitied  of  mortals. 

The  riveting  was  finished,  the  hammers  at  rest ;  the  man 
with  the  pincers  crawled  out  of  the  belly  of  the  monster.  I 
need  scarcely  tell  the  reader  who  this  man  with  the  pincers 
was.  Nor  am  I  ashamed  thus  to  appear  before  him,  for  he 
has  very  likely  seen  me  in  similar  costume,  though  it  is  true 
that  at  this  moment  I  present  a  rather  frightful  appearance. 
The  lower  part  of  my  face,  my  neck  and  iDreast,  are  covered 
with  blood,  which  during  the  last  hour  has  been  running  from 
my  nose  and  mouth.  But  the  three  with  the  hammers  only 
laugh  ;  and  one,  the  foreman,  says  : 

"  Next  time  remember  to  keep  your  mouth  open,  comrade, 
no  roast  pigeons  will  fly  into  it." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  417 

Rather  a  poor  joke,  it  must  be  owned ;  but  the  rest  laugh, 
and  I  laugh  too:  for  as  the  prudent  proverb  advises  us 
to  "  howl  with  the  wolves,"  so  I  have  rarely  been  able  to  re- 
frain from  joining  in  any  laughter,  even  when,  as  at  present, 
it  was  at  my  own  expense. 

But  despite  the  ardent  zeal  with  which  I  entered  into  my 
new  calling,  I  was  not  sorry  that  this  work  inside  the  boiler 
was  but  a  temporary  task,  for  which  the  foreman  of  my  shop 
had  lent  me  because  another  shop  happened  to  be  short- 
handed,  very  unwillingly,  and  only  at  the  order  of  the  fore- 
man of  the  works.  To  say  that  he  did  it  very  unwillingly 
sounds  like  a  brag  from  one  who  like  myself  had  only  been 
a  fortnight  in  the  shop,  and  whose  only  work  yet  had  been 
of  the  roughest  sort,  such  as  handling  the  sledge.  Nor  was 
it  any  merit  of  mine  that  the  heavy  sledge  which  others  han- 
dled with  difficulty  was  as  light  in  my  hands  as  an  ordinary 
fore-hammer,  and  that  my  blow  could  easily  be  distinguished 
among  the  four  or  five  that  followed  in  regular  cadence  the 
foreman's  stroke  upon  the  glowing  iron.  It  was  no  merit  of 
mine  ;  and  yet  in  this  place,  where  bodily  strength  played 
so  important  a  part,  it  counted  as  a  high  one,  even  the  high- 
est. My  foreman  was  proud  of  me  ;  my  fellow-workmen,  in 
the  most  literal  sense,  looked  up  to  me  with  admiration;  and 
Klaus,  whenever  my  name  happened  to  be  mentioned, 
showed  all  his  white  teeth,  then  shut  his  lips  tight,  held  up 
his  forefinger,  and  nodded  mysteriously.  I  had  strictly  for- 
bidden Klaus  to  indulge  in  these  mysterious  gestures,  and 
Klaus  had  solemnly  promised  to  avoid  them,  but  in  spite  of 
all  it  was  not  his  fault  if  all  the  two  hundred  hands  in  the 
establishment  did  not  have  the  same  exalted  opinion  of  me 
with  which  his  honest  soul  was  overflowing. 

"I  declare,"  said  Klaus — ^whenever  I  imparted  to  him 
some  bit  of  information  from  my  theoretical  knowledge  of  ma- 
chinery, or  from  my  mathematical  acquirements — "  you  know 
more  about  these  things  than  any  man  in  the  works,  the 
head-foreman  and  the  engineers  not  excepted,  and  you  de- 
serve to  be  at  least  Chief  of  the  Technical  Bureau." 

"  You  are  a  simpleton,  Klaus,"  I  said. 

"  But  it  is  true,  for  all,"  answered  he  doggedly. 

"  No,  Klaus,  it  is  not  true.  In  the  first  place,  you  far 
over-estimate  my  knowledge,  and  in  the  second  place,  one 


41 8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

can  be  a  very  good  theorist  and  at  the  same  time  a  wretched 
bungler  in  practice.  But  I  want  to  be  both  a  good  theorist 
and  a  skilful  workman,  and  I  must  give  many  a  stroke  of 
hammer  and  of  file  before  I  get  to  be  that.  Just  remember, 
Klaus,  what  a  time  it  took  you  to  rise  from  the  common  job- 
workman,  who  was  glad  if  he  could  dress  his  round  pliers 
decently,  to  the  skilful  machinist  who  can  fit  the  straps  on 
a  connecting-rod  as  well  as  the  best — " 

"  Yes,"  said  Klaus,  "  but  then  you  and  I "  ' 

"  Forging  is  done  everwhere  at  a  fire,  Klaus,  and  every 
piece  must  Ije  hammered  until  it  is  finished  ;  and  so  must  a 
good  machinist  until  he  is  finished ;  and  there  is  much  to  be 
done  before  I  can  say  that  of  myself,  if  I  ever  can." 

"  I  am  of  a  different  opinion,  then,"  answered  the  obstinate 
Klaus. 

"  Then  be  so  good  as  to  keep  that  opinion  to  yourself,"  I 
said,  very  earnestly. 

I  had  good  reasons  for  enjoining  the  honest  Klaus  to 
a  silence  which  was  so  burdensome  to  him  ;  for,  beside  the 
fact  that  he  really  had  a  ridiculously  exaggerated  opinion  of 
me,  his  imprudence  might  be  of  serious  inconvenience  to  me, 
and  indeed  might  close  against  me  the  way  which  I  was 
firmly  resolved  to  tread.  I  wished  to  work  my  way  up  from 
the  ranks  in  the  calling  to  which  I  had  devoted  my  life,  re- 
membering the  saying  of  my  never-to-be-forgotten  teacher, 
that  the  true  artist  must  understand  the  hand-work  of  his  art. 
So  for  the  present  I  was  what  I  desired  to  be — a  hand-worker, 
a  laborer  in  the  roughest  work — and  every  one  took  me  for 
just  that,  which  was  precisely  what  I  wished. 

My  past  history  I  had  veiled  under  a  simple  story,  which 
found  ready  belief  with  the  simple  fellows  around  me.  I  was 
the  son  of  a  seafaring  man  in  Klaus  Pinnow's  native  town. 
We  had  known  each  other  from  our  boyhood ;  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  to  be  a  smith  like  him,  and  had  worked  awhile 
as  an  apprentice  with  his  father.  But  ten  years  ago  I  had 
gone  to  sea,  and  had  voyaged  about  the  whole  world  as  sailor, 
as  ship's-carpenter,  and, as  ship's-blacksmith,  and  only  re- 
turned home  a  short  time  before  with  the  determination  of 
quitting  the  sea  for  the  future,  and  earning  an  honest  living 
on  land,  for  which  purpose  I  was  now  learning  the  smith's 
craft  regularly,  which  I  had  practiced  as  an  apprentice. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


419 


I  was  seldom  under  the  necessity  of  corroborating  this 
story  by  accounts  of  my  past  adventures  ;  and  if  now  and 
then,  when  we  were  off  work,  some  one  more  curious  than 
the  rest  spoke  of  my  travels,  I  understood  enough  of  naviga- 
tion and  vogages,  and  had  mixed  too  much  with  captains 
and  mates,  and  read  too  many  tales  of  the  sea,  not  to  be  able 
to  play  the  part  of  Sindbad  for  half  an  hour.  One  of  my 
principal  stories,  the  scene  of  which  was  laid  somewhere  in 
the  Malay  Archipelago,  in  which  there  was  plenty  of  hot 
work  and  plenty  of  pirates  knocked  in  the  head,  had  pro- 
cured me  in  the  shop  the  nickname  of  "  The  Malay,"  which 
I  bore  until — but  I  must  not  anticipate. 

I  was  all  the  more  readily  believed  to  be  what  I  gave  my- 
self out  for,  as  I  conformed  my  habits  exactly  to  those  of  the 
common  workman.  I  was  dressed  neither  better  nor  worse 
than  the  rest ;  I  ate  my  breakfast  from  my  hand,  as  did  the 
others  ;  I  dined  at  a  cheap  cook-shop,  in  which  some  fifty 
other  workmen  took  their  dinners.  The  only  luxury  which 
I  allowed  myself  out  of  the  little  money  which  I  had  brought 
from  the  prison  was  a  better  lodging  than  workmen  of  my 
class  were  accustomed  to  or  could  afford  ;  and  this  devia- 
tion from  the  rule  was  due  as  much  to  necessity  as  to  any 
consideration  of  comfort  or  taste.  I  could  not,  if  I  wished 
to  prosecute  my  theoretical  studies,  live  in  a  quarter  where 
the  streets  were  noisy  until  deep  in  the  night  with  the  rattling 
of  vehicles,  and  too  often  with  the  uproar  of  drunken  work- 
men in  conflict  with  the  p>oiice,  and  where,  in  the  over- 
crowded houses,  the  ticking,  pulsating,  clattering  clock  of 
human  life  never  stood  still  a  moment. 

For  several  days,  during  which  I  was  Klaus's  guest,  I  had 
looked  about  for  a  suitable  lodging  ;  and  at  last  I  found  one. 

Adjoining  the  factory  was  a  large  lot  of  ground,  which  was 
covered  in  the  most  singular  way  with  buildings,  some  half- 
finished  and  others  only  commenced.  According  to  the  ac- 
count of  the  old  man  who,  in  a  half-finished  porter's  lodge, 
exercised  a  sort  of  guardianship  over  the  place,  the  whole 
had  been  intended  as  an  establishment  to  compete  with 
Streber's.  But  the  projector  of  the  scheme  had  failed,  the 
property  was  put  up  at  auction  and  bought  in  by  a  wealthy 
creditor,  who  thought  the  best  thing  he  could  do  with  it  for 
the  present  was  to  leave  all  things  as  they  were. 


42 o  Hammer  and  Anvil.  , 

"  You  see,"  said  the  old  man,  "  he  hopes  that  in  two  or 
three  years  the  ground  will  be  worth  three  times  as  much  as 
it  now  is ;  and  perhaps  also  that  the  commerzienrath  must 
of  necessity  take  the  thing  off  his  hands  at  any  price,  since 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him  to  keep  a  rival  from 
starting  up,  so  to  speak,  under  his  very  nose.  And  then  the 
commerzienrath  has  to  put  up  new  buildings,  for  they  are  so 
crowded  they  can  hardly  work,  and  where  is  he  to  build  if 
not  just  on  these  lots  ?  But  he  thinks  it  over,  and  my  em- 
ployer thinks  it  over,  and  now  they  have  both  been  thinking 
it  over  for  these  two  years.  Recently  he  has  been  here  again 
and  looked  over  the  place  for  the  twentieth  or  fiftieth  time,  I 
believe ;  but  it  did  not  seem  that  he  had  come  to  any  deter- 
mination. Well,  it  is  all  one  to  me  ;  and  if  you,  sir,  would 
like  one  of  the  rooms  in  the  garden-house,  your  beard  may 
be  grown  two  inches  longer  before  you  have  to  move  out." 

The  satirical  old  porter  pleased  me  well,  and  the  garden- 
house  still  better.  True  it  was  a  mere  boast  when  the  man 
spoke  of  "one  of  the  rooms,"  while  in  reality  it  had  but  one 
in  which  a  human  being  could  possibly  live,  while  the  others, 
without  doors  or  windows,  seemed  rather  to  be  a  cara- 
vanserai for  homeless  cats  :  an  appearance  which  I  found 
afterwards  to  be  fully  borne  out  by  the  facts.  The  little 
house,  which  was  probably  originally  intended  for  the  resi- 
dence of  the  owner  or  manager,  was  planned  in  a  very  pleas- 
ing Italian  style.  An  easy  flight  of  stairs  led  to  the  rooms 
referred  to,  in  which,  to  judge  from  the  spots  of  ink  on  the 
unscrubbed  floors,  and  several  three-legged  drawing-tables, 
and  other  similar  bits  of  ruinous  furniture,  the  architect  of 
the  building  must  have  had  his  office  ;  on  the  other  side  was 
a  balcony.  In  front  of  the  stairs  a  grass-plot  had  been  de- 
signed, but  at  present  it  was  only  a  plot  without  the  grass  ; 
and  similarly  a  great  free-stone  basin  in  the  centre  lacked  the 
Triton  and  the  water  ;  and  the  trellis,  which  ran  up  between 
the  windows,  as  high  up  as  the  projecting  eaves,  lacked  its 
Venetian  ivy.  But  I  cared  nothing  for  these  deficiencies  ; 
on  the  contrary  I  regarded  them  as  pointing  to  a  better 
future,  and  they  harmonized  thus  with  my  own  frame  of 
mind,  which  also  looked  from  a  barren  present  to  richer  and 
fairer  days  to  come.  Then  this  ruinous  lodging  had  the  real 
practical  advantage  of  suitable  cheapness,  and  also  that  of 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  421 

securing  me  the  quiet  which  was  so  necessary  to  my  studies  ; 
and,  to  tell  the  whole,  the  old  man  had  told  me  that  the 
young  lady  who  had  accompanied  the  commerzienrath,  and 
must  have  been  the  old  gentleman's  daughter,  had'clapped 
her  hands  when  she  saw  the  garden-house,  and  said  it  was 
charming,  and  she  would  like  to  live  in  it. 

"  She'd  soon  get  out  of  that  notion,"  said  the  old  growler. 
"  She  did  not  look  as  if  the  owl  was  her  house-builder,  and 
Skinflint  her  cook ;  but  for  one  of  our — I  mean  of  your — sort, 
it  will  suit  very  well." 

"  It  suits  me  exactly,"  I  said  ;  "  and  now,  when  can  I  move 
in?" 

"  When  you  please ;  no  one  has  been  before  you,  so  you 
will  not  have  to  wait  for  the  tenant  to  move  out." 

So  on  the  same  evening  I  took  possession  of  my  new 
lodging,  with  the  assistance  of  the  good  Klaus,  whose  head 
scarcely  stopped  shaking  the  whole  time. 

What  did  I  want  with  such  a  tumble-down  old  ruin,  where 
I  might  be  murdered  and  not  a  dog  bark  ?  And  how  could 
I  fancy  such  furniture :  two  worm-eaten  high-backed  chairs, 
an  arm-chair  about  a  hundred  years  old,  a  table  with  clumsy 
twisted  legs,  and  a  looking-glass  with  tarnished  gilt  frame  ? 
To  be  sure,  I  had  bought  the  rubbish  cheap  enough  of  a 
dealer  in  second-hand  furniture,  but  for  very  little  more  he 
would  have  given  me  things  of  a  very  different  sort ;  but 
somehow  I  had  always  had  a  strange  sort  of  taste  in  those 
matters,  and  he  remembered  that  I  used  to  have  a  lot  of  just 
such  useless  rubbish  in  my  own  room  in  my  father's  house 
in  Uselin. 

So  the  good  Klaus  grumbled  and  scolded,  and  even 
Christel  was  seriously  out  of  humor  with  me  for  some  days. 
She  had  discovered  a  room  in  her  own  house,  on  the  court- 
side,  up  two  pair  of  stairs,  beautifully  furnished,  and  having 
only  the  inconvenience  that  to  get  to  it  one  had  to  go  through 
the  kitchen  and  the  landlady's  room.  And  the  landlady  was 
a  particularly  respectable  tailor's  widow  of  eighty-two,  with 
an  excellent  unmarried  daughter  of  sixty,  who  would  cer- 
tainly have  taken  the  very  best  care  of  me. 

The  honest  Klaus  and  the  good  Christel !  I  could  not 
help  them  ;  I  could  not  for  their  sakes  change  my  nature,  to 
which  this  striving  for  freedom  and  independence  was  an 


42  2  Ham77ier  a?id  Anvil. 

absolute  necessity.  In  my  garret  in  my  father's  house, 
in  my  room  at  Castle  Zehrendorf,  even  in  my  prison  cell, 
I  had  eyer  felt  too  deeply  the  luxury  and  poetry  of  solitude 
to  be  able  to  dispense  with  it  now  that  I  was  a  man. 

And  now  again  I  was  alone  in  my  room  in  the  half-fin- 
ished garden-house,  among  the  ruins  of  buildings,  large  and 
small,  that  never  would  be  completed.  In  the  evening, 
when  I  looked  up  from  my  books,  no  sound  reached  me  but 
the  hollow  unceasing  rumble  of  vehicles,  like  the  distant  roll 
of  the  sea,  or  the  bark  of  the  shaggy  poodle  that  by  day 
kept  the  old  man  company  in  the  porter's  lodge,  and  in  the 
evening  and  all  night  long  traversed  the  spaces  between  the 
ruins  and  the  ruins  themselves,  in,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  an 
interminable  hunt  after  cats. 

And  when  occasionally,  to  cool  my  heated  head,  I  step- 
ped out  upon  the  balcony,  all  again  was  deserted,  vacant, 
and  dark  around,  only  here  and  there  the  light  of  a 
solitary  lamp,  and  sometimes  a  red  pillar  of  flame  which 
rose  from  one  of  the  furnace-chimneys  of  our  works  into  the 
night  sky,  and  reddened  the  edges  of  the  dark  clouds  which 
a  sharp  November  wind  drove  before  it.  Then,  when  I 
returned  to  my  room,  how  cheerful  looked  my  modest  lamp, 
before  which  lay  open  my  book  with  figures  and  formulas  ; 
how  cosily  the  old  carven  oak  furniture,  which  had  so  moved 
the  spleen  of  the  good  Klaus  ;  and  above  all,  with  what 
pleasure  I  contemplated  the  two  small  antique  vases  of  terra- 
cotta upon  the  mantel-piece,  and  the  beautiful  copy  of  the 
Sistine  Madonna,  which  hung  on  the  wall  facing  my  work- 
table.  The  picture  and  the  vases  had  been  taken  from  my 
cell  when  the  new  superintendent  came,  but  upon  my  release 
I  had  demanded  them  with  so  fixed  a  determination  that 
they  did  not  venture  to  withhold  them  :  so  I  had  packed 
them  carefully  in  a  box  and  placed  them  in  the  hands  of  a 
person  whom  I  could  trust,  to  be  forwarded  to  me  whenever 
I  should  have  fixed  myself  somewhere.  This  very  day  they 
had  arrived,  and  to-night,  for  the  first  time,  again  I  enjoyed 
the  pleasure  of  gazing  at  them. 

And  while  I  contemplated  these  precious  relics  I  re- 
proached myself  earnestly  that  I  had  never  prevailed  upon 
myself  to  visit  or  give  any  token  of  my  existence  to  the  dear- 
est friend  I  had  in  the  world,  in  the  same  city  with  whom  I 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  423 

had  now  been  living  a  fortnight.  It  seemed  so  entirely  con- 
trary to  my  nature  not  at  once  to  obey  the  impulse  of  my 
heart,  and  that  so  urgent  an  impulse — not  to  hasten  without 
delay  to  her  with  whom  I  had  lived  in  closest  friendship  so 
many  years  of  my  life,  and  whose  heart  I  was  convinced  beat 
as  warmly  for  me  as  ever.  We  had  not  kept  up  a  very  lively 
correspondence  during  the  year  of  our  separation,  but  we 
had  agreed  when  we  parted  that  we  would  not  write  except 
upon  some  especial  emergency,  as  anything  like  a  corres- 
pondence carried  on  under  the  eyes  of  the  new  superintend- 
ent and  Herr  von  Krossow  seemed  an  impossibility.  An 
emergency  of  this  kind  occurred,  when  the  baseness  of  this 
well-matched  pair  procured  me  a  seven  months'  addition  to 
my  term  of  incarceration  :  I  wrote  to  her,  simply  acquaint- 
ing her  with  the  fact,  and  she  answered  with  but  a  word : 
"  Endure." 

No,  this  was  not  the  cause  of  my  reluctance ;  and  indeed  it 
had  but  one,  which  I  was  unwilling  to  admit,  even  to  myself 
I  knew  how  the  dearest,  noblest  girl  had  to  work  and  to  care 
for  herself  and  for  those  dear  to  her.  For  a  year  it  had 
been  my  dearest  wish — indeed  it  often  seemed  to  me  the 
single  aim  and  object  of  my  life — to  attain  a  position  that 
would  enable  me  to  lift  this  load  from  her  frail  shoul- 
ders. And  now,  when  she  perhaps  more  than  ever  needed 
a  friend,  a  supporter,  I  must  appear  before  her  in  a  condi- 
tion in  which,  even  if  I  needed  no  assistance  myself,  I  was 
utterly  unable  to  afford  it  to  others.  That  might  have  been 
foreseen  ;  as  things  were,  it  was  inevitable,  and  yet 

But  will  she,  then,  will  she  ever  accept  my  assistance  ? 
I  interrupted  the  course  of  my  thoughts  as  I  paced  up  and 
down  my  room  with  my  hands  behind  me,  a  habit  I  had 
caught  from  my  father.  Has  she  not  given  me  a  hundred 
proofs  how  jealous  she  is  of  her  independence  ?  And  has 
she  not  given  me  especially  to  understand,  even  at  our  part- 
ing, that  if  she  should  require  a  support  it  should  not  be  my 
arm  ? 

I  called  to  mind  the  last  days  that  I  had  spent  with  Paula 
and  her  family.  There  were  not  many  of  them,  for  they  had 
urged  Frau  von  Zehren  to  make  room  for  her  husband's 
successor  with  an  insistance  that  was  really  indecent.  This 
successor,  a  major  on  half-pay,  and  a  special  pet  of  the  pie- 


424  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

tistic  president,  had  long  waited  for  the  place,  and,  so  to 
speak,  had  been  standing  at  the  door.  The  brutality  with 
which  he  took  possession  at  once  of  the  superintendent's 
house,  without  the  least  consideration  for  the  bereaved  family, 
was  really  unexampled.  He  had  given  the  afflicted  lady  the 
alternative  of  removing  with  her  family  to  one  of  the  prison 
cells,  which  he  magnanimously  offered  to  have  cleared  out  for 
their  occupation,  or  of  taking  refuge  in  one  of  the  wretched 
taverns  of  the  town.  Frau  von  Zehren,  of  course,  had  not 
hesitated  a  moment  as  to  what  was  to  be  done  ;  and  thus 
within  three  days  after  the  death  of  my  benefactor  all  the  old 
familiar  faces  had  vanished  from  the  house  in  which  he  had 
lived  so  long.  All  had  gone.  Doctor  Snellius,  in  the  very 
first  hour  in  which  he  had  the  questionable  honor  of  being 
presented  to  the  new  superintendent,  spoke  his  mind  to  him 
in  full ;  and  when  Doctor  Snellius  spoke  his  mind  to  any  one 
whom  he  had  reason  to  despise  and  abhor,  you  might  rest 
assured  that  the  individual  addressed  would  not  have  the 
slightest  ground  to  complain  of  any  obscurity  in  the  doctor's 
expressions. 

Immediately  upon  his  heel  followed  old  Sergeant  Siiss- 
milch ;  and  although  the  register  of  the  old  man's  voice  lay 
fully  two  octaves  lower  than  the  doctor's,  yet  the  melody 
which  both  sang  must  have  been  the  same  ;  at  all  events  the 
result  in  both  cases  was  identical,  namely,  Major  D.  foamed 
with  rage,  then  stamped  with  his  feet,  and  ordered  the  inso- 
lent fellow  to  be  put  in  the  dungeon  immediately.  Happily,  the 
old  man  had  been  prudent  enough  to  ask  for  and  to  obtain 
his  discharge  before  he  thoroughly  eased  his  heart  to  his  new 
chief,  who  therefore,  rage  as  he  might,  had  no  authority  over 
the  old  man,  and  on  Sergeant  Siissmilch  threats  were  thrown 
away. 

How  gladly  would  I  have  followed  these  enticing  examples, 
and  spoken  my  mind  also  to  the  new  superintendent.  Prob- 
ably in  my  whole  life  I  have  never  exercised  such  constraint 
over  myself  as  in  those  days,  when  I  saw  this  miserable 
creature  occupying  the  place  which  that  noble  man  had  left ; 
and  in  all  likelihood  I  should  not  have  succeeded,  and  should 
have  plunged  myself  into  far  worse  misfortune,  had  not  a 
voice  perpetually  sounded  in  my  ear  which  was  more  potent 
with  me  than  the  impulse  of  my  heart.     And  this  voice  said  : 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  425 

"  You  have  already  endured  much,  poor  George ;  bear  this 
also,  though  it  be  the  hardest  of  all,  and  if  you  cannot  con- 
trol yourself,  call  to  mind  him  who  loved  you  as  his  own 
son. 

I  sat  down  to  my  book  again  and  turned  the  leaves  ;  but 
this  night  I  could  not  fix  my  attention  on  even  the  simplest 
things.  Old  well-known  algebraic  formulas  wore  a  quite 
strange  appearance,  and  seemed  to  form  themselves  into  the 
words :  If  he  loved  me  as  his  son,  and  she  was  the  best 
beloved  of  his  children,  should  she  and  I  not  also  love  each 
other  ? 

"Are  you  going  to  keep  your  light  burning  all  night?" 
called  the  voice  of  the  old  watchman  from  below.  "  It  is 
now  one  o'clock,  and  I  am  to  wake  you  at  five,  and  a  nice 
job  I  will  have  of  it !  " 


CHAPTER    II. 

IN  another  shop  of  our  establishment  several  men  had 
been  wounded,  more  or  less  dangerously,  by  the  slipping 
of  a  belt.  In  our  shop  we  had  heard  the  news  of  the 
accident  just  before  dinner,  and  the  men  were  standing  about 
the  yard  inquiring  the  particulars  and  talking  it  over.  I  had 
joined  one  of  the  groups,  and  was  listening  attentively,  when 
I  saw  a  little  man  pushing  through  the  crowd,  with  his  hat 
in  his  hand,  and  whose  great  bald  skull  emerging  here  and 
there  between  these  dark  figures  resembled  the  full  moon 
sailing  through  black  clouds.  This  skull  could  only  belong 
to  one  man.  I  hastened  in  pursuit,  and  overtook  it  by  the 
gate  at  the  moment  when  it  was  covered  with  a  felt  hat, 
which  had  not  improved  in  appearance  since  I  last  saw  it. 
I  followed  the  felt  hat  a  few  steps  in  the  street,  and  then 
with  a  stride  placed  myself  beside  its  wearer. 

"  Permit  me,  doctor,"  I  said. 

Doctor  Snellius  brought  his  round  spectacles  to  bear  on 
me,  and  stared  at  me  with  a  look  of  the  profoundest  aston- 
ishment. 


426  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  It  is  no  hallucination,  doctor,"  I  said  ;  "  this  is  really 
myself." 

"  George,  mammoth,  man,  how  come  you  here,  and  in  this 
questionable  shape  ?  "  cried  the  doctor,  holding  out  both  his 
hands. 

"  Hush,  doctor,"  I  said,  "  I  am  here  incognito,  and  must 
deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  embracing  you." 

"  Don't  tell  me  you  have  run  away,  and  that  too  after  I  ex- 
pressly forbade  you,"  said  the  doctor,  in  a  low,  anxious 
tone. 

I  set  his  mind  at  rest  on  this  point. 

"Heaven  be  thanked  !  "  he  said  ;  "  not  forgetting  also  to 
thank  me,  or  rather  her.     How  did  you  find  her  ?  " 

"  I  have  not  yet  seen  her,  .doctor." 

"And  you  have  been  here  two  weeks?  Shameful!  in- 
credible !  Where  is  my  lantern,  that  I  may  dash  it  to  pieces, 
for  now  I  give  up  forever  the  hope  of  finding  a  man.  Go  ! 
I  will  never  see  you  again."  1 

"  When  shall  I  come  to  see  you,  doctor  ?  " 

"  Whenever  you  will,  or  can  :  shall  we  say  this  evening  ? 
eh  ?     A  glass  of  grog  in  the  old  fashion,  half-and-half,  eh  ? " 

And  over  a  glass  of  grog,  half-and-half  in  the  old  fash- 
ion. Doctor  Snellius  and  I  faced  each  other  that  very  even- 
ing, in  his  more  roomy  lodging,  and  talked  of  by-gone  times, 
of  what  we  had  gone  through  together,  as  two  old  friends 
talk  who  meet  for  the  first  time  after  long  separation. 

The  doctor  gave  me  a  drastic  description  of  his  great 
scene  with  Major  D.,  and  how  Herr  von  Krossow  had  come 
in,  and  how  he  had  said  that  it  was  true  that  three  made  a 
college,  but  for  the  whole  world  he  would  not  make  a  college 
with  those  two,  and  that  he  begged  to  take  leave  of  them  at 
once  and  forever.  I  answered,  laughing,  that  I  now  could 
understand  the  vindictiveness  with  which  1  was  persecuted 
by  Herr  von  Krossow,  whom  I  had  never  offended. 

"  You  are  mistaken,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  the  doctor. 
"  The  reptile  had  other  and  better  reasons  for  turning  his 
fangs  upon  you.  I  can  tell  you  now  that  there  is  no  danger 
of  your  wringing  the  miscreant's  neck.  So  now  listen  ;  but 
mix  yourself  a  glass  first — you  will  not  get  it  down  without  a 
good  swig.  This  it  was  :  he  had  once  before  paid  his  court 
to  her — to  Paula  von  Zehren  ;  and  as  he  received  one  mitten, 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


427 


he  thought  he  might  venture  to  apply  for  the  other.  For 
this  purpose  he  selected  as  the  fittest  time  those  days  of 
grief  and  distraction  immediately  after  her  father's  death,  nor 
did  he  forget  to  remind  her  that  the  new  superintendent  was 
his  good  friend,  and  the  president  his  cousin,  and  that 
through  these  two  he  held  the  fortunes  of  Paula  and  her 
family,  so  to  speak,  in  his  hands ;  for  her  mother's  claim  to 
a  pension  was,  as  she  knew  herself,  open  to  dispute  ;  but 
the  thing  could  be  managed  ;  and  although  he  had  no  prop- 
erty of  his  own,  he  had  good  connections,  and  by  no  means 
bad  prospects,  especially  under  the  new  king,  who  was  in 
truth  an  anointed  of  the  Lord.  What  do  you  think  of 
that?"  crowed  Doctor  Snellius,  springing  up  and  perform- 
ing a  grotesque  dance  through  the  room. 

The  doctor's  statement  filled  me  with  astonishment  and 
indignation.  I  had  had  no  idea  that  the  sanctimonious  dea- 
con had  dared  to  raise  his  hypocritical  eyes  to  Paula  ;  and 
this  suggested  the  thought  that  I  might  probably  have  been 
equally  dim  of  sight  in  another  quarter.  I  sank  into  a 
gloomy  silence  ;  but  the  doctor  must  have  read  my  thoughts 
in  my  face  through  his  great  round  spectacles. 

"  You  are  thinking  that  it  cost  her  no  great  effort  to  dis- 
miss the  priest  when  her  heart  was  already  in  the  possession 
of  the  knight  ?  I  know  we  often  spoke  of  it  and  made  each 
other  uneasy,  but  it  was  all  nonsense,  I  assure  you,  all  non- 
sense. Paula  no  more  thinks  of  marrying  the  young  Adonis 
than  an  old  satyr  like  me." 

The  doctor  gave  me  a  side-glance  at  these  words,  and 
smiled  sardonically  as  I  involuntarily  murmured  a  heart-felt 
" Thank  heaven  !  " 

"  Don't  rejoice  too  soon,  though,"  he  went  on,  and  his 
smile  grew  ever  more  diabolic  ;  "  we  must  not  praise  the 
day  before  the  evening,  and  you  know  my  doctrine,  that  with 
men  anything  is  possible.  Arthur  is  really  a  most  fascinat- 
ing youth,  and  now  he  has  worked  himself  into  the  diplomatic 
career,  he  may  weU  die  our  Minister  to  London.  It  is  the 
same  trade,  and  that  they  understand — ah!  don't  they  un- 
derstand it  ?  especially  the  old  man,  who  really  is  a  genius 
in  the  noble  art.  From  his  tailor,  whom  he  cajoles  until  the 
man  gives  him  credit  again,  up  to  the  king,  whom  he  with- 
out hesitation  petitions  for  a  subsidy  that  will  enable  him  to 


428  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

pay  his  debts  and  push  his  Arthur  in  his  new  career,  no 
man  is  safe  from  him — no  man.  I  warn  you  button  up  your 
pockets  when  you  meet  the  gentleman  on  the  street." 

"  He  lives  here,  then  .?  " 

"  Of  course,  he  lives  here.  The  soil  here  is  not  so  soon 
exhausted,  and  a  great  man  like  the  Herr  Steuerrath  needs 
a  wide  field  everywhere.  Oh  these  brows,  these  brows  of 
brass  !  " 

"Why  do  we  talk  so  much  of  such  a  crew?"  I  asked. 
"  Rather  tell  me  something  about  her.  How  does  she  live  ? 
How  does  she  get  on  with  her  painting  t  Has  she  made 
great  progress  ?     And  has  she  found  sale  for  her  pictures  ?  " 

"  Made  progress  .''  Find  sale  ?  "  cried  the  doctor.  "  Pretty 
questions,  indeed  !  I  tell  you  she  is  in  a  fair  way  to  make 
her  fortune.     They  fairly  fight  over  her  pictures." 

"  Doctor,"  I  said,  "  I  do  not  think  this  is  a  proper  subject 
for  jesting." 

The  doctor,  who  had  spoken  in  his  shrillest  tones,  tuned 
down  his  voice  a  couple  of  octaves  by  an  energetic  "  ahem  !  " 
and  said : 

"  You  are  right ;  but  it  is  no  jest — merely  a  lie.  As  I  see, 
however,  that  I  have  not  made  any  progress  in  the  art  of 
lying,  it  is  probably  best  for  me  to  tell  you,  or  rather  show 
you,  the  truth.     Come  with  me." 

He  lighted  two  candles  that  stood  under  the  looking-glass, 
and  led  me  into  an  adjoining  room,  which  he  had  first  to 
unlock. 

"  I  have  put  them  here,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  wall, 
which  was  hung  with  large  and  small  pictures,  "because  they 
are  not  safe  from  the  boys  anywhere  else.  Now  what  do  you 
think  of  them  ?  " 

Taking  the  candles  from  the  doctor,  and  letting  the  light 
fall  upon  the  pictures,  I  saw  at  once  that  they  were  all  by 
Paula's  hand.  I  had  too  long  watched  her  studies,  and  too 
deeply  entered  into  her  way  of  seeing  and  of  reproducing 
what  she  saw,  to  be  liable  to  any  error. 

There  were  three  or  four  heads,  all  idealized,  the  originals 
of  which  I  fancied  that  I  recognized  ;  two  or  three  genre- 
pieces — scenes  from  the  prison,  which  I  had  already  seen  in 
the  first  draught ;  and  finally  a  landscape — a  great  reach  of 
coast  with  stormy  sea — the  sketch  of  which  I  remembered 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  429 

perfectly.  At  this  time  I  understood  but  little  of  painting, 
and  least  of  all  did  I  know  how  to  justify  my  opinion  when 
formed.  Now  I  can  say  that  I  really  perceived  a  decisive 
improvement  in  these  pictures — an  improvement  both  in  the 
technical  execution  and  in  the  freer  and  broader  style  of 
treatment :  especially  did  the  heads  strike  me  as  exhibit- 
ing remarkable  power,  and  I  enthusiastically  expressed  my 
opinion  to  the  doctor  in  the  best  words  I  could  find. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  leaning  his  head  first  on  one  side  and  then 
on  the  other,  and  contemplating  the  pictures  with  melan- 
choly pride,  "  you  are  right ;  perfectly  right.  She  is  a 
genius  ;  but  of  what  use  is  genius  when  it  has  no  name  ? 
The  world  is  stupid,  my  friend ;  incredibly  stupid :  it  can 
discover  anything  grand  or  beautiful  soon  enough  when  the 
one  or  two  enlightened  heads  that  a  century  produces  have 
given  their  testimony  to  it,  one  after  the  other ;  then  the 
thing  IS  an  article  of  faith  that  the  boys  recite  from  their 
benches  and  the  sparrows  chatter  upon  the  roofs.  But  when 
the  gentlemen  have  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  work  of  an 
author  whose  name  they  have  never  before  heard,  or  the  pic- 
ture of  an  artist  who  comes  before  them  for  the  first  time, 
then  they  are  at  the  end  of  their  lesson  and  do  not  know 
what  to  think.  How  long  would  these  pictures  have  trav- 
elled from  one  exhibition  to  another,  or  hung  in  the  dealers' 
shops,  if  I  had  allowed  them  to  hang  there  ?  So  they  have 
all  travelled  into  my  possession,  and  not  to  America,  Eng- 
land, and  Russia,  as  the  good  Paula  believes.  But  do  not 
look  so  seriously  at  me.  My  part  of  Maecenas  did  not  last 
long  ;  her  last  picture  at  the  Artists'  Exposition — ^you  know 
it,  and  are  in  it  yourself — Richard  the  Lion-heart  sick  in  his 
tent,  visited  by  an  Arab  physician  :  well,  that  picture,  as  I 
hear,  has  been  bought  by  the  commerzienrath — your  com- 
merzienrath — strange  to  say,  for  the  man  knows  just  as  much 
about  paintings  as  I  do  about  making  money,  and  Paula,  by 
my  advice,  fixed  its  price  at  a  considerable  sum.  You  see  I 
am  now  superfluous.     Sic  tansit  gloria  I " 

The  doctor  sighed  deeply,  and  then  preceded  me  with  the 
two  candles  in  his  hands,  casting  flickering  lights  upon  his 
broad  skull. 

We  took  our  seats  again  behind  the  glasses  of  grog.  The 
doctor  seemed  disposed  to  drown  the  deep  melancholy  that 


-.;,.J>K'. 

430  Hammer  and  Anvil.  I 

had  possessed  him  by  doubHng  the  strength  of  his  potations, 
while  I  sat  in  deep  meditation.  The  fact  that  the  commer- 
zienrath  had  bought  Paula's  picture  set  me  to  pondering.  I 
knew  of  old  how  absolutely  indifferent  the  man  was  to  every- 
thing connected  with  art,  and  that  the  relationship  had  in 
any  way  moved  him  to  the  purchase  was  the  unlikeliest  thing 
in  the  world.  It  was  therefore  no  very  chimerical  conclu- 
sion that  the  daughter  had  more  to  do  in  the  affair  than  the 
father;  and  I  confess  that  as  I  reckoned  up  the  probabilities 
of  this  supposition  the  blood  rushed  to  my  cheeks.  In  fiict 
the  hypothesis  stood  or  fell  on  a  certain  point,  which  was  yet 
uncertain.  I  drew  a  long  breath,  took  a  deep  draught  from 
my  glass,  and  asked  :  j 

"  Has  King  Richard  still  any  likeness " 

"  To  you,  my  most  esteemed  friend  ;  to  you  ?  Do  not  vex 
yourself  with  any  doubts  on  that  score,"  answered  Doctor 
Snellius  with  a  promptness  that  seemed  to  indicate  that  our 
thoughts  had  met  in  the  same  point.  "  The  only  fault  I  have 
to  find  with  it  is  just  this,  that  Paula  seems  to  have  fancied 
that  she  had  only  to  take  you  as  you  were,  and  there  was  a 
king  ready  made.  Have  the  goodness  not  to  take  credit  to 
yourself  for  what  is  merely  her  poverty  of  invention." 

"  I  think  I  have  not  yet  given  you  any  reason  to  hold  me 
exceptionally  vain,"  I  said. 

"  No  ;  heaven  knows  you  have  not ;  you  deserve  rather  to 
descend  to  posterity  in  the  character  of  St.  Simon  Stylites 
than  as  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion." 

"  You  say  that  as  bitterly  as  if  you  were  seriously  dissat- 
isfied with  me." 

"  And  so  I  am,  my  good  sir,"  cried  the  doctor.  "What 
kind  of  a  crochet  is  it  to  live  by  the  labor  of  your  hands, 
when  you  can  live  by  your  head .''  Do  you  know,  sir,  that 
our  departed  friend  said  to  me,  not  long  before  his  death, 
that  you  had  the  most  remarkable  talent  for  mathematics  he 
had  ever  known,  and  that  you  could  at  any  time  take  charge 
of  the  highest  class  in  a  public  school  ?  Do  you  suppose 
that  your  head  grows  acuter  just  in  proportion  as  your  hands 
grow  coarser  ?  You  will  say,  like  the  tailor  to  Talleyrand, 
il  faut  vivre  ;  and  a  journeyman  blacksmith  will  make  a  liv- 
ing easier  than  a  teacher  of  mathematics.  Well,  have  you 
no  friends  that  could  help  you  ?     Why  did  you  not  come  to 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  431 

me  at  once  ?     Why  did  you  leave  it  for  chance  to  decide 
whether  we  should  meet  or  not  ?  " 

I  endeavored  to  calm  his  irritation,  showing  him  that  I 
had  taken  my  present  course,  not  from  necessity  but  convic- 
tion ;  but  he  would  not  yield  the  point. 

"  Why  did  you  take  the  trouble  to  make  a  virtue  of  ne- 
cessity? Necessity  was  your  adviser,  necessity  and  your 
confounded  pride  to  boot.  You  would  have  set  out  in  quite 
another  way,  if  you  had  had  any  capita!  to  back  you." 

"  But  you  see  I  have  none,  doctor." 

"  Don't  you  contradict  me,  you  brainless  mammoth  !  A 
friend  who  has  capital  that  he  places  at  our  disposal  is  a  cap- 
ital of  our  own.  I  am  your  jfriend,  I  have  capital,  and  I 
place  it  at  your  disposal.  Who  knows  if  in  this  I  do  not  ac- 
complish a  work  more  pleasing  to  heaven  than  if  I  followed 
my  old  father's  wishes  and  employed  it  in  assisting  orphan 
asylums  and  other  such  childish  undertakings.  You  are  an 
orphan;  so  in  helping  you  I  follow  the  words  if  not  the  in- 
tention of  that  pious  man,  and  shall  be  perfectly  easy  in 
conscience  on  that  score." 

"  But  I  shall  not,"  I  replied,  laughing. 

"  Don't  laugh,  you  monster  !  "  cried  the  doctor.  "  You 
don't  seem  to  comprehend  that  my  proposition  is  perfectly 
serious.  Take  my  money — there  are  fifty  thousand  thalers^ 
or  thereabouts — go  into  partnership  with  the  commerzien- 
rath  ;  or  better,  found  a  rival  establishment,  and  hoist  him 
out  of  his  saddle  :  in  a  few  years  you  will  be  the  first  manu- 
facturer and  machinist  of  Germany,  and " 

While  the  doctor  thus  spoke  in  feverish  excitement  the 
blood  had  rushed  to  his  head  in  a  really  alarming  manner. 
He  suddenly  checked  himself,  and  it  was  not  until  long  after 
that  I  learned  what  it  was  that  required  such  an  effort  to 
suppress.  It  may  be  that  my  head,  in  consequence  of  my 
long  sitting  behind  the  grog,  was  by  no  means  perfectly 
clear ;  at  all  events  only  thus  can  I  explain  the  obstinacy 
with  which  I  still  contradicted  the  doctor  and  maintained 
that  my  sense  of  independence  would  never  allow  me  to  use 
the  capital  and  assistance  of  another  as  the  foundation  of 
my  fortune. 

"  Do  you  know  what  you  are  proclaiming  in  this  ?  "  cried 
the  doctor  in  his  shrillest  tones,  and  wrathfully  smiting  the 


432  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

table — "that  you  will  remain  a  beggar,  a  miserable  beg- 
garly fellow,  as  every  one  has  done  who  was  fool  enough  to 
try  to  drag  himself  out  of  the  swamp  by  his  own  hair  ?  No, 
no,  my  good  sir  ;  the  art  is  to  let  others  work  for  you. 
Whoever  does  not  understand  this,  is  and  remains  a  beg- 
gar." 

"  What  would  our  best  friend  have  said  if  he  had  heard 
you  talk  thus  ?  " 

"  Has  he  not  in  life  and  death  proven  the  truth  of  it?" 
crowed  the  pugnacious  doctor.  *'  Do  you  call  it  living  as 
a  reasonable  man,  to  leave  the  dearest  we  have  on  earth  in 
poverty  at  our  death  .^  And  what  are  the  great  results  of  all 
his  long,  self-sacrificing,  heroic  labor  for  the  general  good  ? 
He  fancied,  this  high-priest  of  humanity,  that  his  example 
would  suffice  to  bring  about  an  entire  reform  of  the  prison 
system.  And  now  an  old  pedant  of  a  king  has  but  to  shut 
his  sleepy  eyes,  and  the  foundation  of  his  edifice  gives  way; 
and  as  soon  as  he  himself  commits  the  folly  of  dying,  it  falls 
to  ruin  like  a  house  of  cards.  If  that  be  not  folly  I  do  not 
know  how  loud  the  bells  must  jingle." 

"  I  know  somebody  whose  cap  is  quite  as  well  furnished," 
I  said,  looking  the  doctor  full  in  the  eyes.  "  What  do  you 
call  a  man  who — as  the  only  son  of  a  rich  old  father  who  loves 
the  son  and  lets  him  follow  his  own  course,  even  though  he 
does  not  comprehend  it,  with  the  certain  prospect  of  a  con- 
siderable inheritance — performs  for  years  the  laborious  work 
of  a  prison-surgeon  for  the  most  trivial  pay  \  who,  after  he 
has  come  into  the  possession  of  this  estate,  continues  to 
labor  as  the  physician  of  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  and  finally, 
because  the  weight  of  his  wealth  is  too  burdensome,  throws 
it  into  the  lap  of  the  first  man  he  meets,  to  die  the  same 
irreclaimable  beggarly  fellow  that  he  has  lived? " 

"  Did  I  ever  pretend  to  be  anything  else  ? "  asked  my  an- 
tagonist, not  without  some  mark  of  confusion.  "  Oh  yes,  as 
if  it  were  only  the  simplest  thing  in  the  world  to  be  a  child 
of  prudence.  To  produce  that  result  requires  generations, 
for  shrewdness  must  be  bred  in  families,  like  the  long  legs 
of  race-horses.  Take  the  commerzienrath,  who  is  a  classic 
example  how  shrewdness  grows  and  thrives  when  it  is  once 
properly  grafted  on  a  family  stock :  the  man's  grandfather 
was  a  needleman,  who  kept  a  little  shop  by  the  harbor-gate 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  433 

in  S.  ;  my  own  grandfather  knew  him  well.  He  was  a  dis- 
reputable old  fellow,  who  sold  nails  and  needles  in  his  front 
shop,  and  lent  money  on  pawns  in  the  back  room.  Then 
came  his  son,  who  was  at  least  a  head  above  his  father,  and 
could  read  and  write,  and  calculate  much  better  than  the  old 
man.  He  settled  in  your  town  and  bought  shares  of  ships, 
and  finally  whole  ships,  and  paved  the  way  for  his  son,  who 
is  the  biggest  of  the  lot.  His  flourishing  period  came  in 
Napoleon's  time.  Napoleon  and  the  blockade  and  the 
smuggling  business  made  a  rich  man  of  him.  Yes,  smug- 
gling— the  same  smuggling  that  cost  your  friend  his  life. 
\Vhen  the  Herr  Commerzienrath  was  a  smuggler,  smug- 
gling was  a  kind  of  patriotic  work,  and  the  poor  devils  who 
risked  and  lost  their  lives  at  it  were  martyrs  of  the  good 
cause.  God  only  knows  how  many  men's  lives  he  has  on 
his  conscience.  And  when  afterwards  the  people  who  had 
got  into  the  way  of  the  business  would  not  quit  it,  and  in- 
deed could  not,  or  they  would  have  starved,  he  was  safe 
enough  ;  he  had  brought  his  sheep  out  of  the  rain  and  could 
laugh  in  his  sleeve.  Then  came  the  time  of  army-contracts, 
and  that  again  was  a  good  time  for  him  ;  and  thus  this  leech 
kept  sucking  and  gorging  himself  with  the  blood  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  Everything  that  he  undertook  succeeded  ;  the 
needleman's  grandson  and  broker's  son  has  become  a  mil- 
lionaire, has  married  a  woman  of  noble  birth,  has  titles, 
orders — all  that  the  heart  can  desire.  Look  you,  there 
is  a  child  of  prudence,  whom  I  recommend  to  you  as  an 
example." 

"  That  I  may  lose  your  and  every  worthy  man's  friend- 
ship .?" 

"  What  good  is  my  friendship  to  you  ?  My  friendship  at 
best  is  worth  but  fifty  thousand  thalers.  You  are  quite  right 
not  to  put  yourself  out  of  your  yvay  for  such  a  trifle.  Marry 
Hermine  Streber — ^then  you  will  know  why  you  were  a  beg- 
garly fellow." 

"  It  seems  that  one  falls  into  this  category  by  having  either 
a  great  deal  of  money  or  none  at  all,"  I  said,  hiding  under 
a  loud  laugh  my  embarrassment  at  his  brusque  suggestion. 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  doctor,  still  heated.     "  Extremes 
meet,  and  for  this  reason  I  consider  your  destiny  inevitable. 
The  question  only  is,  how  to  deal  with  the  old  man  ;  with  the 
19 


434  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

daughter  the  business  is  half  done,  or  more  than  half.  Your 
meeting  on  the  steamer  was  capital  ;  and  now  this  Richard 
the  Lion-heart  in  effigy,  as  long  as  she  has  him  not  in  pro- 
pria personcB ' ' 

"  Doctor,"  I  said,  rising,  "  I  think  it  must  be  time  to  say 
good-night." 

"  As  you  please,"  replied  the  doctor.  "  You  know  with 
such  remarkable  exactitude  what  is  good  for  you  that  most 
likely  you  know  this  too." 

The  doctor  had  also  arisen  and  was  now  walking  up  and 
down  the  room  making  frightful  faces. 

"  Doctor,"  said  I,  stepping  before  him. 

"  Go !"  he  cried,  passing  round  me  in  a  curve. 

"  I  am  going,"  I  said,  and  I  went. 

But  I  halted  at  the  door  and  looked  back  once  more  at 
the  singular  man,  who  had  thrown  himself  again  into  his 
chair  and  was  watching  me  angrily  through  his  round  spec- 
tacles. 

*'  Doctor,  you  said  to  me  once  that  you  could  not  well  carry 
more  than  four  glasses,  and  this  evening  you  have  drunk  six. 
So  I  will  ascribe  the  unfriendly  way  in  which  you  dismiss 
me — for  what  other  reason  I  cannot  imagine — to  the  fifth  and 
sixth  glass  ;  and  now  good-by." 

I  left  the  room  without  his  making  any  attempt  to  detain 
me,  and  as  I  closed  the  door  behind  me  I  heard  him  burst 
into  a  peal  of  shrill  laughter. 

"  This  comes  from  a  man's  not  keeping  within  his  meas- 
ure," I  said  to  myself,  excusing  him. 

But  as  I  reached  the  street  below,  and  the  frosty  night  air 
blew  upon  my  heated  face,  I  began  to  perceive  that  I  had 
not  exactly  kept  within  my  own  measure.  My  gait  as  I  trav- 
ersed the  empty,  badly-lighted  streets,  now  swept  by  a  sharp 
December  wind,  was  less  steady  than  usual,  and  strange 
thoughts  passed  through  my  head,  and  I  had  curious  fancies, 
whose  origin  could  only  be  traced  to  the  glasses  I  had 
emptied.  And  once  I  had  to  laugh  aloud,  for  I  imagined  I 
heard  the  voice  of  the  short,  fat  commerzienrath  saying  quite 
distinctly :  "  My  dear  son,  we  must  mind  what  we  are  about 
or  we  shall  not  get  home  at  all,  and  our  Hermine  will  be 
alarmed." 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


435 


CHAPTER    III. 

AS  the  next  day  was  Sunday,  I  had  leisure  to  reflect 
upon  the  singular  behavior  of  the  doctor  the  evening 
before  ;  but  either  the  affair  was  in  itself  too  compli- 
cated, or  else  my  memory  had  suffered  from  the  effects  of  my 
strong  potations,  and  I  could  arrive  at  no  satisfactory  conclu- 
sion. That  the  strange  man  loved  me  much,  after  his  fashion, 
I  had  innumerable  proofs,  and  his  anger  on  the  previous 
evening  had  been  rather  that  of  an  elder  brother,  who  sees 
that  the  younger,  whom  he  loves,  is  straying  from  the  right 
way. 

But  what  upon  earth  had  I  done  amiss,  then  ?  It  could 
not  be  possible  that  the  doctor  could  seriously  reproach  me 
with  my  determination  to  make  my  own  way  in  the  world. 
He  himself  had  trusted  to  his  own  resources  very  early  in 
life,  and  with  the  toughest  perseverance  carried  out  his  own 
plans. 

Assuredly  the  fact  that  I  had  chosen  the  lot  of  a  workman 
could  be  no  crime  in  the  eyes  of  a  man  whose  heart  beat  so 
warmly  for  the  poor,  and  who  devoted  his  whole  life  to  the 
relief  of  poverty  and  misery.  The  cause  of  his  wrath  must 
lie  elsewhere  ;  and  after  long  pondering  I  came  around  to  the 
point,  that  the  picture  of  Paula's,  upon  which  I  figured  as 
Richard  the  Lion-heart,  had  been  the  starting-point  of  our 
dispute.  Had  he  taken  it  amiss  that  Paula  held  fast  to  her 
model  ?  Did  he  grudge  me  the  honor  of  being  painted  by 
her  ?  Was  he  vexed  that  this  picture  was  not  in  his  posses- 
sion, but  in  the  hands  of  a  man  whom  he  so  hated  and  de- 
spised as  the  commerzienrath  ?  These  were  all  questions 
worth  considering.  I  concluded  at  last  that  my  supposition 
must  be  correct,  and  resolved  that  this  very  day,  before  I 
called  on  Paula,  I  would  have  a  look  at  the  cause  of  our  quar- 
rel. 

So  about  noon  I  set  out  for  the  academy,  in  the  halls  of 
which  the  great  exhibition  of  paintings  had  been  open  now 
for  some  weeks.  It  was  my  first  visit  to  an  exhibition  of  the 
sort.  My  knowledge  of  pictures  up  to  this  time  was  re- 
stricted to  a  few  old  discolored  saints  in  the  churches  of  my 


436  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

native  town,  the  engravings  and  family  portraits  in  the  super- 
intendent's house,  and  the  pictures  which  I  had  seen  grow- 
ing under  Paula's  hand.     Still,  as  I  had  over  and  over  con- 
templated and  studied  these  few  with  never-ceasing  delight, 
and  had  for  years  been  witness  of  the  development  of  a  gen- 
uine artist  nature,  I  had,  perhaps,  if  no  more,  at  least  no 
less  enthusiasm  for  beauty  than  the  hundreds  that  flooded 
the  exhibition-rooms.      I  cannot  describe  the  feeling  with 
which  I,  now  following  the  throng,  and  now  separated  from 
it,  wandered  through  the  lofty  rooms.     I  had  never  seen  any- 
thing like  this.     I   could  not  have  conceived  it  possible. 
Were  there  then  so  many  men  who  knew  how  to  handle  pen- 
cils and   colors   that  the  walls  of  this   labyrinth   of  rooms 
were  hung  from  ceiling  to  floor  with  the  works  of  their  skill  .-* 
And  was  the  world  so  gloriously  rich  ?     Was  the  sky  that 
bent  above  the  sunny  bays  of  the  South  in  truth  of  so  mar- 
vellous a  blue  ?     Did  snow-clad  mountains  really  tower  so 
majestically  into  the  luminous  ether  ?     Was  the  twilight  thus 
mysterious  in  the  pine-fringed  gorges  of  our  own  mountains  ? 
Did  such  infinite  multitudes  of  birds  indeed  hover  over  the 
enormous  rivers  of  Africa  .''     Did  the  palaces  of  Italian  cities 
rise  thus  gorgeously  above  the  narrow  canals  along  which 
black  gondolas  were  noiselessly  gliding  ?     Were  there  halls 
in  princely  mansions  whose  marble  floors  thus  clearly  re- 
flected the  luxurious  furniture  and  the  forms  of  the  guests  .-* 
Yes ;  all  these  things  that  I  here  saw  depicted  really  ex- 
isted, and  much  more  which  my  eager  fancy  added,  half  in 
dreaming.     For  the  more  I  looked,  examined,  and  admired, 
the  stronger  came  over  me  a  sense  of  having  seen  all  this 
before  ;  yes,  seen  so  clearly  that  I  could  tell  the  artist  what 
he  had  done  well,  and  where  he  had  fallen  far  short  of  the 
lovely  reality.     Often  I  felt  really  angry  with  a  stupid  painter 
who  had  seen  so  dimly,  and  so  poorly  represented  what  little 
he  saw.     In  a  word,  in  the  briefest  space  of  time  I  had  be- 
come a  finished  connoisseur  of  the  noble  art  of  the  painter, 
with  the  solitary  drawback  that  I  could  in  no  case  have  told 
how  the  artist  should  go  to  work  to  make  his  picture  better  ; 
but  perhaps  this  was  a  special  qualification  for  the  ofiice  of 
critic. 

I  had  probably  wandered  thus  for  an  hour  through  the 
rooms,  when  stepping  into  one  of  the  last,  which  was  remarit- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


437 


ably  brightly  lighted  by  a  skylight,  I  started  with  sudden  and 
extreme  surprise.  Looking  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd  that 
filled  the  hall  I  seemed  to  see  myself.  And  it  was  myself, 
or  at  least  my  counterfeit  in  Paula's  picture,  the  picture 
which  I  had  come  on  purpose  to  see,  and  which  I  looked  for 
so  far  in  vain.  A  particularly  large  group  was  collected  be- 
fore it,  looking  with  eager  and  admiring  eyes  at  Paula's  work, 
while  from  many  fair  lips  came  the  words,  "Charming!" 
"  how  beautiful !"  "  what  depth  of  feeling  !"  It  was  a  queer 
sensation  to  me  to  see  myself  thus  lying  upon  a  bed,  in  a 
rich  robe  of  fine  linen,  and  scarcely  concealed  by  a  light 
drapery.  The  blood  suffused  my  cheeks  ;  I  expected  every 
instant  to  see  the  crowd  turn  from  the  picture  to  me  to  com- 
pare the  copy  with  the  original.  But  it  was  probably  no  easy 
thing  to  discover  in  the  tall,  healthy  young  man,  in  plain 
citizen's  dress,  standing  back  in  a  window  niche,  the  original 
of  the  lion-hearted  king,  glorified  by  legend,  in  a  picture 
on  public  exhibition.  At  all  events  no  one  made  the  dis- 
covery, and  I  was  left  to  contemplate  the  painting  at  my 
leisure. 

Now  I  observed  for  the  first  time  that  the  picture  was  of 
far  larger  dimensions  than  the  study  which  I  knew.  It  was, 
in  fact,  a  new  picture,  which  had  been  completed  since  I  last 
had  seen  Paula.  So  much  the  more  wonderful,  as  it  seemed 
to  me,  was  the  striking  likeness  to  the  original.  Here  were 
my  curled  reddish  locks,  my  rather  broad  than  high  forehead, 
my  large  blue  eyes,  which  found  it  so  difficult  to  take  an  ex- 
pression of  anger.  Even  the  feverish  flush  which  lay  upon 
the  sunken  cheeks  of  the  royal  Richard  might  at  this  moment 
have  been  seen  upon  those  of  the  man  in  the  window.  In 
other  respects  the  design  remained  the  same,  only  the  young 
knight  who  had  the  lineaments  of  Arthur  had  perhaps  with- 
drawn a  little  more  into  the  background,  so  that  the  broad- 
shouldered  yeoman  with  the  features  of  Sergeant  Siissmilch 
came  better  into  view.  An  admirable  figure  was  the  Arab 
physician,  alias  Doctor  Willibrod  Snellius,  the  most  singular 
personage  that  could  be  imagined,  in  the  garb  of  a  dervish, 
and  one  whom  one  could  not  help  liking,  notwithstanding 
his  ugliness,  so  that  the  generous  confidence  of  tte  king 
became  at  once  intelligible. 

This  then  was  the  picture  which  Paula  had  painted  and 


438  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Hermine  bought.  Was  there  not  here  a  two-fold  reason  for 
a  little  pride  and  even  vanity  ?  Must  not  the  original  be 
very  firmly  implanted  in  the  artist's  heart  when  she  could 
make  from  recollection  alone  so  true  a  likeness  ?  Must  not 
the  original  be  somewhat  interesting  to  the  purchaser,  when 
she  was  willing  to  pay  such  a  price  for  the  copy  ?  These 
were  foolish  thoughts,  and  I  can  affirm  that  they  vanished 
as  soon  as  they  arose,  and  the  next  moment  I  was  heartily 
ashamed  of  them.  Vexed  with  myself  I  aroused  myself 
from  my  foolish  dreaming  and  turned  my  gaze  once  more 
upon  the  picture,  in  front  of  which  the  eager  crowd  of  gazers 
had  increased. 

Among  the  new  spectators  I  noticed  a  lady  in  a  rich  and 
becoming  toilette,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  a  slender  and  rather 
foppishly  dressed  gentleman.  The  lady  attracted  my  atten- 
tion by  her  elegant  figure  and  the  vivacious  manner  in  which 
she  gesticulated  with  her  little  hand  in  its  dainty  kid  glove, 
and  spoke  with  great  animation  to  her  companion,  who  was 
evidently  more  interested  by  the  spectators  than  by  the 
picture  itself.  As  her  back  was  towards  me  I  could  only 
from  time  to  time  catch  a  glimpse  of  her  face  when  she 
glanced  over  her  shoulder  at  her  companion.  But  the 
glimpse  that  I  caught  affected  me  powerfully,  without  my 
being  able  to  explain  the  cause  :  a  dark  eye-brow,  a  fleeting 
glance  from  the  corner  of  the  eye,  the  contours  of  a  brunette's 
cheek  and  of  a  rounded  chin.  Yet  I  could  not  turn  my  gaze 
from  the  lady.  I  even  made  one  or  two  attempts  to  catch 
sight  of  her  face,  but  she  always  turned  it  to  the  other  side. 
The  gentleman  then  seemed  to  propose  that  they  should  go  : 
they  were  about  leaving  the  room,  when  in  the  moment  that 
they  crossed  the  threshold  the  lady  turned  her  head  once 
more  towards  the  picture,  and  I  came  very  near  uttering  an 
exclamation  of  surprise  ?     Was  it  not  Constance  ? 

"  Did  you  see  the  Bellini  "i  "  a  young  officer  near  me  asked 
an  acquaintance  who  approached  and  accosted  him. 

"  That  lady  with  the  gray-silk  dress.  Cashmere  shawl,  and 
jaunty  hat  ?    Is  she  the  Bellini .''  " 

"  Yes,  indeed.     Is  she  not  a  charming  creature  ?  " 

"  Superb  !  And  who  was  the  gentleman  with  her  ?  Baron 
Sandstrom,  of  the  Swedish  embassy  ?  " 

"  Do  you  suppose  he  would  let  himself  be  seen  here  with 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


439 


the  Bellini?    What   are  you   thinking  of,  baron?     It  was 
Lenz,  the  tenor  of  the  Albert  Theatre." 

"  The  man  that  brought  her  on  the  stage  ?  " 
"  The  same.     She  has  a  wonderful  talent,  they  say.     Well, 
we  shall  see  what  there  is  in  it." 

"  See  ?     You  would  not  go  to  the  Albert  Theatre,  baron  ?  " 
•'  Why  not,  when  a  Bellini  is  in  question  ? " 
"  You  are  a  gay  fellow,  baron." 
"  I  can  return  the  compliment,  if  it  is  one." 
And  the  two  young  men  separated,  laughing. 
I    breathed   deeply.      "  Thank   heaven  !  "    I    murmured. 
"  Thank  heaven  that  it  was  an  actress  and  not  Constance 
von  Zehren.     I  would  not  meet  her  on  the  arm  of  such  a  fop 
and  hear  a  pair  of  such  fellows  speak  of  her  thus." 

It  did  not,  in  the  first  moments  of  my  surprise,  occur  to 
me  that  I  had  only  to  follow  the  lady  in  order  to  catch  an- 
other look  at  her  ;  and  now,  as  I  hastily  traversed  the  rooms 
she  was  no  longer  to  be  seen.  Again  I  breathed  deeply, 
with  a  sensation  of  relief,  when  I  had  convinced  myself  of 
the  inutility  of  further  search,  and  said  to  myself :  "  It  is 
better  that  I  should  not  see  this  Fraulein  Bellini  again." 
And  while  I  said  this  I  felt  my  heart  beat  violently,  and  my 
eyes  still  wandered  searching  through  the  crowd.  They 
were  strange  recollections  which  the  face,  at  once  known 
and  unknown,  of  this  lady,  had  awakened  within  me ;  recol- 
lections from  a  time  in  which  the  impressions  once  received 
remained  forever. 

These  memories  did  not  leave  me  until  I  traversed  the 
long  streets  of  the  city,  many  of  them  new  to  me,  on  my  \yay 
to  Paula's  residence,  which  I  had  the  doctor  carefully  describe 
to  me  the  previous  day.  Being  Sunday,  the  shops  and  stores 
were  closed,  but  the  streets  were  still  full  of  life.  It  was  a 
clear,  cold  forenoon  in  the  beginning  of  December.  A  little 
snow  had  fallen  in  the  night,  just  enough  to  give  a  silvery 
glitter  to  the  roofs  and  bring  into  handsome  relief  the  pro- 
jections and  ornaments  of  the  fapades.  Numerous  pedes- 
trians hastened  along  the  streets  ;  showy  horses  in  handsome 
carriages  pawed  vigorously  upon  the  frosty  pavement,  and 
even  the  wretched  jades  in  the  rickety  droschkies  trotted 
rather  better  than  usual.  The  sight  of  this  cheerful  life  scat- 
tered the  evil  dreams  that  had  tried  to  master  my  soul,  I 


44°  -  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

felt  myself  so  young  and  strong  in  the  midst  of  a  vast,  pow- 
erful stream  which  drove  me  along  but  did  not  overpower 
me.  All  was  new,  fair,  and  rich ;  who  could  know  to  what 
glorious  shores  the  current  would  bear  me  ?  And  even  now 
I  saw  a  fair  harbor  and  a  beloved  form  beckoning  to  me, 
and  I  hastened  my  steps  until  I  arrived,  out  of  breath,  at  a 
large,  handsome  house  in  one  of  the  most  fashionable  sub- 
urbs, and,  on  asking  the  porter  if  Frau  von  Zehren  was  at 
home,  was  shown  up  two  flights  of  stairs. 

"  But  the  ladies  are  not  at  home,"  said  the  man. 

"No  one?" 

"  One  of  the  young  gentlemen  may  be." 

"  I  will  see." 

"  Can  I  take  any  message  ?  " 

"  No  ;  I  wish  to  see  them." 

The  porter  closed  his  window,  not  without  a  sort  of  suspi- 
cious look  at  the  tall  stranger,  who  did  not  appear  to  be  a 
gentleman  of  fashion,  and  I  hurried  up  the  two  carpeted 
flights  of  stairs,  and  drawing  a  deep  breath  I  pulled  the 
bell  over  which  was  a  brass  plate  with  the  name  "  Frau  von 
Zehren,"  and  under  it  "  Paula  von  Zehren." 

"  Which  of  the  boys  shall  I  see  ?  "  I  asked  myself,  and 
in  fanc}'^  I  saw  the  friendly  faces  of  Benno,  Kurt,  and  Oscar, 
at  the  door ;  but  a  step  approached  which  could  belong  to 
neither  of  the  boys.  The  door  was  opened  and  the  old  fur- 
rowed brown  face  of  the  sergeant  looked  at  me  inquisitively 
out  of  its  clear  blue  eyes. 

"Good  day,  sergeant." 

The  sergeant  in  his  surprise  very  nearly  let  fall  the  bunch 
of  brushes  he  had  in  his  hand. 

"Thunder  and  lightning,  are  we  here  at  last  ?  Won't  the 
gnddige  Frau  and  the  young  gentlemen  be  glad  ! — and  the 
young  lady  too  !     Come  in  !  " 

And  he  pulled  me  in  and  closed  the  door  behind  us,  and 
then  led  me  into  a  room  in  which  the  furniture  greeted  me 
as  old  acquaintances. 

The  old  man  pressed  my  hands,  exclaiming  over  and 
over  : 

"  How  splendid  we  are  looking  !  I  believe  we  are  bigger 
than  ever.  And  how  we  must  have  been  working  to  make 
our  hands  so  hard  1     We  have  had  hard  times,  eh  ?     But  we 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


441 


have  held  up  bravely,  that  is  the  main  thing.     How  long 
since  we  got  out  of  that  cursed  hole  ?  " 

Thus  the  sergeant  questioned  me,  and  pushed  me  into  an 
easy-chair  ;  and  he  was  quite  indignant  when  I  told  him  that 
I  had  already  been  over  two  weeks  in  the  city. 

"  It  is  not  possible  !  "  he  cried.  "  Two  weeks  without 
coming  to  us,  and  we  have  been  expecting  you  every  day  ! 
It  is  not  possible  !  It  is  enough  to  turn  a  man  into  a  bear 
with  seven  senses  !  " 

"  Every  one  for  himself  first,  old  friend,"  I  said.  "  Sup- 
pose I  had  come  here  first  of  all,  and  Fraulein  Paula  had 
asked  what  the  tall  George  was  going  to  do  ?  " 

The  sergeant  scratched  his  curly  gray  head.  "  To  be  sure, 
to  be  sure  !  "  he  said.  "  Self  is  the  man.  With  a  woman  or 
a  girl,  of  course,  it  is  quite  different ;  and  so  one  had  to  bring 
them  away  at  once  that  they  might  have  some  one  to  rely  on 
on  the  way,  and  here,  upon  first  moving  in,  some  one  to  look 
after  things  ;  for  women  are  women  and  men  are  men.  Am 
I  not  right  ?  " 

"  Doubtless,  Siissmilch,  doubtless.  So  you  have  been  here, 
of  course,  ever  since  .''  " 

"  Of  course,"  said  the  old  man,  who  had  taken  a  seat  op- 
posite to  me,  but  sat  upon  the  extreme  edge  of  the  chair,  as 
if  to  show  that  he  knew  how  to  keep  within  the  bounds  him- 
self had  fixed.  "  And  apart  from  other  things,  can  they  ever 
get  on  without  my  head .'' " 

"  And  without  your  hands  ?  " 

"  Not  of  so  much  consequence,  though  they  come  into  play 
sometimes  too,"  the  old  man  replied,  arranging  the  brushes 

between  his  fingers,  "  but  the  head "  and  he  thoughtfully 

shook  this  interesting  and  important  part  of  his  person. 

"  I  have  just  seen  it  at  the  exhibition,"  I  said,  a  light  sud- 
denly flashing  upon  me  in  regard  to  the  part  the  old  man's 
head  really  played  in  the  family  arrangements. 

"  Does  pretty  well,  don't  it  ?  "  said  the  sergeant ;  "  but 
the  monk  is  better  still." 

"Who?" 

"The  monk.  To  be  sure  nobody  knows  what  we  are 
painting.     But  you  must  see  it." 

The  old  man  sprang  up  with  youthful  alacrity  and  led  me 
into  a  large  and  high  apartment  adjoining,  which  was  Paula's 
19* 


44-  ■  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

studio.  Sketches  and  designs  of  all  kinds  were  hanging  and 
leaning  upon  the  walls,  with  heads,  arms,  and  legs  in  plaster, 
a  couple  of  sets  of  ancient  armor,  a  lay  figure  draped  with  a 
long  white  mantle,  and  near  the  window,  which  reached  to 
the  ceiling,  an  easel  with  a  picture  from  which  the  sergeant 
removed  the  covering. 

"  Here's  the  place  to  stand,"  he  said.  "  Is  not  that  splen- 
did .?  " 

"  Splendid  indeed  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  Was  I  not  right  that  my  head  is  quite  another  thing 
here  ? "  said  the  old  man,  pointing  proudly  to  the  work. 
The  scene  was  from  Nathan  the  Wise.,  and  represented  the 
monk  about  to  sound  the  intentions  of  the  templar.  Both 
figures  stood  out  clear  and  plastic,  with  such  animation  in 
their  looks  that  one  might  almost  catch  the  words  from  their 
lips  ;  the  grand  simplicity  in  the  good  weatherbeaten  face 
of  the  pious  brother  who  had  once  been  a  squire,  and  had 
many  a  valiant  lord  and  accomplished  many  a  hard  service, 
none  of  which  had  ever  been  so  hard  to  him  as  this  commission 
of  the  patriarch.  On  the  other  side  the  templar,  young 
and  slender,  his  head  thrown  defiantly  back,  his  lips  com- 
pressed with  an  expression  of  discontent,  and  his  blue  eyes 
bent  upon  the  poor  monk.  In  the  middle  distance  a  por- 
tion of  Nathan's  house,  and  the  palms  that  surround  the 
Holy  Tomb  ;  behind  these  the  domes  and  slender  minarets 
of  Jerusalem,  with  the  haughty  crescent  sharply  defined 
against  the  southern  sky,  where  the  eye  lost  itself  with  de- 
light in  the  immeasurable  distance. 

"  The  young  gentleman  has  something  from  us  ;  here,  for 
instance,  and  here,"  said  the  sergeant,  pointing  with  his  fin- 
ger at  the  eyes  and  mouth  of  the  templar,  and  then  looking 
again  at  me  ;  "  but  I  said  at  once  that  it  is  not  so  good  as 
King  Richard  ;  by  far  not  so  good,"  and  the  old  man  shook 
his  head  gravely. 

"  But  the  Frilulein  cannot  paint  me  always,"  I  said  ;  "  that 
would  at  last  become  too  monotonous.  With  you  it  is  dif- 
ferent :  such  a  head  as  yours  is  not  to  be  met  with  again." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  sergeant.  "  It  is  curious  :  one  never  be- 
lieved it ;  in  fact  one  hardly  knew  he  had  a  head  ;  but  that's 
the  way  they  all  talk  that  come  here,  and  they  want  me  in  all 
their  studios  ;  and  Fraulein  Paula  did  lend  me  once  or  twice, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  443 

but  in  the  other  pictures  one  looks  like  a  bear  with  seven 
senses,  and  don't  know  himself  again." 

"  And  how  is  she  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  well  enough,  if  we  did  not  have  to  work  so  much  ; 
but  from  morning,  as  soon  as  it  is  light  enough,  until  even- 
ing when  it  is  too  dark  to  tell  one  color  from  another,  work- 
ing here  in  the  studio,  or  copying  in  the  museum — no  bear 
could  stand  it,  let  alone  such  a  good  young  lady  who  has  not 
yet  got  over  her  father's  death,  and  secretly  weeps  for  it 
every  day.     It  is  a  real  pity." 

The  old  man  turned  away,  laid  the  brushes  in  the  box,  and 
passed  the  back  of  his  hand  quickly  over  his  eyes. 

I  stood  with  folded  arms  before  the  picture,  which  no  longer 
pleased  me  when  I  thought  that  she  worked  on  it  unresting 
from  morning  till  night,  while  grief  for  the  loss  of  her  be- 
loved father  still  dimmed  her  eyes.  It  would  be  a '  great 
thing  to  have  fifty  thousand  thalers  and  be  able  to  say :  "  You 
shall  not  have  so  hard  a  life  of  it ;  you  shall  not  lose  your 
beautiful  eyes  like  your  poor  mother." 

"  How  is  Frau  von  Zehren  t  "  I  asked. 

"  Well  enough  in  health,"  answered  the  sergeant,  moving 
back  the  easel ;  "but  she  has  scarcely  a  glimpse  of  light ;  and 
the  doctor,  who  ought  to  know  best,  told  her,  when  she  asked 
him,  that  there  was  no  hope  that  she  would  ever  see  again." 

"  And  Benno  and  the  others  ?  " 

A  bright  gleam  passed  over  the  old  man's  brown  face, 

"Ah,"  said  he,  "there  we  have  our  pleasure,  and  with 
each  one  more  than  the  other,  Benno  has  been  a  student 
now  for  a  month,  and  Kurt  will  soon  enter.  Yes,  we  are 
happy  in  these.  And  our  youngster  too  !  He  is  going  to  be 
a  painter,  and  has  begun  of  course  upon  my  head,  and  not 
done  so  badly  for  his  fifteen  years.  Look  for  yourself,  if  it  is 
not " 

At  this  moment  there  was  a  ring  at  the  door.  The  old 
man  stepped  to  the  window  and  looked  out. 

"  I  thought  it  was  they.  You  see  we  all  went  out  walking, 
because  the  day  is  so  fine  ;  but  it  is  too  soon  yet  for  them  to 
be  back ;  it  must  be  some  one  else  ;  I  will  see  ;  "  and  the 
old  man  put  back  the  drawing-board  on  which  Oscar  had 
sketched  his  first  head  from  the  life,  and  left  me  alone  in 
the  studio. 


444  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

I  heard  a  voice  in  the  passage  which  I  thought  I  recog- 
nized as  Paula's,  and  then  the  door  opened,  and  Paula  en- 
tered. 

At  first  she  did  not  observe  me,  and  I  saw  at  a  glance 
that  the  sergeant  had  said  nothing  of  my  arrival.  Advanc- 
ing quickly  she  looked  eagerly  at  the  covered  picture  on 
the  easel.  The  fresh  air  of  the  winter  day  had  reddened 
her  cheeks,  her  lips  were  slightly  parted.  I  had  never  seen 
her  so  fair,  nor  could  I  have  believed  it  possible.  Suddenly 
she  perceived  me  ;  she  stopped,  gazed  at  me  with  fixed  eyes 
and  a  frightened  look.  "  Paula,"  I  said,  hastily  coming  for- 
ward, "  dear  Paula,  it  is  really  I." 

"  Dear  George  !  "  1 

She  stood  before  me,  and  I  took  both  her  hands,  while 
she  looked  at  me,  smiling  and  blushing. 

"Thank  heaven,  George,  that  you  are  here  at  last.  I 
have  had  no  quiet  hour  since  I  knew  that  you  were  free 
again,  and  on  the  way  here :  I  could  not  imagine  where  you 
were  staying  ;  I  even  feared  something  had  happened  to 
you.  What  have  you  been  doing,  and  what  adventures  have 
you  had,  you  bad  boy .''  I  know  of  one  already,  and  that 
from  the  fairest  mouth  in  the  world." 

Paula  had  seated  herself  upon  a  low  chair  near  the  picture, 
and  looked  up  to  me  with  smiling  eyes. 

"  You  need  not  be  so  confused,"  she  said,  mischievously. 

"  With  a  sister,  you  know,  it  makes  no  matter.  I  am  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  all  Benno's  tender  secrets,  and 
lately  Kurt  has  honored  me  with  his  confidence.  He  is 
smitten  with  the  twelve-year-old  daughter  of  the  geheimrath 
who  has  recently  moved  into  the  rooms  below,  and  vows 
that  Raphael  never  painted  such  a  head.  Why  should  I  not 
be  your  confidante  also,  especially  since  you  are  my  eldest 
brother — or  are  you  not  ?  " 

I  was  surprised  to  hear  Paula,  who  usually  weighed  every 
word,  chattering  after  this  fashion.  A  great  change  must 
have  taken  place  in  her  since  we  had  parted.  It  was  no 
longer  the  Paula  who  in  the  shade  of  the  high  prison  walls 
had  developed  under  my  eyes  from  a  child  to  a  maiden,  and 
whom  I  thought  I  knew  as  I  knew  myself.  What  had 
loosened  her  tongue  in  this  way  ?  And  whence  had  she  the 
free  carriage  which  I  so  much  admired  in  her,  as  she  now  sat 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  445 

in  a  graceful  posture  in  the  low  chair,  while  a  beam  of  sun- 
light touched  her  head  which  seemed  surrounded  with  an 
aureola  ? 

"  But  you  don't  answer  me,"  she  resumed ;  "  and  really  you 
have  no  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  what  you  have  done.  Her- 
mine  says  that  without  you  the  boat  would  have  been  lost, 
and  probably  the  ship  also.  You  may  judge  how  proud  I 
was  when  I  heard  it.  And  what  do  you  think  was  my  first 
thought.'' — that  my  father  could  have  heard  it  too." 

Paula's  large  eyes  filled  with  tears,  but  she  quickly  sup- 
pressed her  emotion  and  said  : 

"  Yes,  I  was  proud  of  you,  and  happy  in  the  thought  that 
you  should  commence  life  with  such  a  noble  deed,  a  deed 
worthy  of  yourself.  And  now  you  must  tell  me  what  you 
have  been  doing  all  this  time,  and  you  must  expect  to  pay 
the  penalty  if  I  am  not  entirely  satisfied  with  you.  Sit  here 
in  this  chair.  We  have  a  quarter  of  an  hour  yet  before  my 
mother  and  the  boys  come  back.  An  idea  about  the  picture 
there  had  come  into  my  mind,  but  it  is  better  so." 

I  gave  the  dear  girl  an  exact  account  of  all  that  had  hap- 
pened to  me  since  my  discharge.  She  listened  with  the 
closest  attention,  and  only  once  smiled  when  I  took  pains  to 
prove  that  I  should  have  entered  the  machine-works  in  any 
event,  and  that  the  fact  that  the  commerzienrath  was  my 
employer  was  far  from  agreeable  to  me. 

"  But  neither  the  commerzienrath  nor  Hermine  know  any- 
thing about  it."  . 

"No,"  I  answered;  "  and  that  is  one  comfort." 

"  Which  will  not  last  long,  for  they  will  soon  learn  it." 

"  From  whom  will  they  learn  it? " 

"  From  me,  for  one.  Hermine  has  adjured  me  by  sun, 
moon,. and  stars,  to  give  her  notice  of  the  runaway  as  soon 
as  he  is  found ;  and  the  tears  were  standing  in  her  beautiful 
eyes,  and  Fraulein  Duff  laid  her  hand  upon  her  shoulder  and 
said,  '  Seek  faithfully,  and  thou  wilt  find  !'  I  can  assure  you, 
George,  it  was  a  moving  scene." 

Paula  smiled,  but  so  kindly  that  her  banter,  if  she  was  ban- 
tering me,  did  not  wound  me.  On  the  contrary  I  was  thank- 
ful to  her,  very  thankful.  I  had  considered  over  and  over 
how  I  should  tell  her  of  my  strange  meeting  with  Hermine 
without  embarrassment,  and  now  under  her  kindly  hands  all 


44^  Hammer  and  Anvil.  . 

was  smooth  and  straight,  which  my  clumsy  fingers  would 
have  hopelessly  entangled.  I  was  grateful  to  her — very 
grateful. 

And  now  Paula  told  me  of  Hermine,  and  how  amiable 
and  good  she  had  been  to  her,  and  had  spent  the  three  days 
she  had  stayed  in  Berlin  almost  exclusively  in  her  company, 
and  had  at  once  fallen  in  love  with  the  picture  at  the  exhibi- 
tion— here  Paula  smiled  again  very  slightly — and  could  not 
reconcile  herself  to  leaving  it,  after  she  had  bought  it,  for  a 
whole  month  at  the  exhibition.  She  further  related  how  the 
notice  which  Richard  the  Lion-heart  had  excited .  had  already 
brought  her  new  commissions,  and  that  her  Monk  and  Tem- 
plar was  already  sold  for  a  handsome  sum  to  a  Jewish 
banker  ;  and  how  her  studio  had  since  been  visited  by  very 
distinguished  persons,  indeed  more  frequently  than  was 
agreeable,  and  she  had  had  to  lock  up  her  portfolios  of 
sketches  because  they  began  unaccountably  to  disappear. 

"  You  can  judge,"  she  went  on,  "  how  inexpressibly  happy 
all  this  makes  me.  Not  that  I  think  myself  entitled  to  be 
proud — I  think  that  I  well  know  my  defects  and  how  great 
they  are — but  it  is  a  sweet  consolation  to  me  to  be  at  ease 
about  the  future  of  my  mother  and  brothers,  and  that  the 
boys  can  now  go  boldly  forward  in  the  paths  they  have 
chosen,  without  being  compelled  anxiously  to  consider  every 
step — all  the  boys,  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest,  is  it  not 
so,  George? — from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest." 

She  looked  full  into  my  eyes,  and  I  very  well  understood 
what  she  meant. 

"  I  do  not  anxiously  consider  every  step,  Paula,"  I  said. 
"  I  know  that  I  am  in  the  right  path ;  why  should  I  then  be 
anxious  ?  " 

"  I  have  boundless  confidence  in  you,"  replied  Paula ; 
"  both  in  your  clear-sightedness  and  your  energy.  I  know 
that  you  will  make  your  way  ;  but  one  can  make  his  way 
with  greater  or  with  less  labor,  and  in  longer  or  in  shorter 
time ;  and  your  sister  desires  that  her  brother,  who  has  been 
so  cruelly  cheated  of  so  many  years  of  his  life,  may  lose  no 
moment,  and  may  encounter  no  obstacle  which  his  sister  can 
remove  from  his  path." 

"  I  thank  you,  Paula,"  I  said  ;  "  from  the  whole  depth  of 
my  soul  I  thank  you ;  but  you  will  not  be  angry  with  me  for 


I 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


447 


trusting  that  the  hour  may  never  come  when  you  will  have  to 
work  for  me  ;  for  that  I  may  ever  be  able  to  care  for  you 
and  yours — this,  my  clearest  hope  and  most  cherished  desire, 
I  see  that  I  must  now  renounce." 

"  How  can  you  speak  so  ?  "  said  Paula,  gently  shaking 
her  beautiful  head.  "  True,  I  deserve  it  for  my  own  wilful- 
ness. You  must  consider  me  a  foolish  girl  who  allows  her- 
self to  be  dazzled  by  the  false  glitter  of  success.  But 
believe  me,  it  is  not  so.  I  know  very  well  that  I  may  be  let 
fall  just  as  quickly  as  I  have  been  lifted,  far  above  my  desert. 
And  then  I  may  fall  sick,  or  my  invention  may  fail  me  :  I 
cannot  go  on  forever  painting  you  and  old  Siissmilch  ;  and 
a  girl  has  so  little  opportunity  to  make  well-grounded  studies, 
and  to  extend  the  narrow  circle  of  her  experience.  And 
then  what  would  become  of  the  boys,  of  me,  of  all  of  us,  if 
we  had  not  our  eldest  to  look  to  ?  " 

"You  are  jesting  with  me  now,  Paula." 

"  Indeed  I  am  not,"  she  said,  earnestly.  "  I  have  only 
too  often  felt  how  my  powers  are  no  longer  sufficient  for  my 
brothers,  and  that  young  men  need  to  be  guided  by  a  man, 
and  not  by  a  woman,  who  does  not  know  where  the  limit  lies 
to  which  a  youth  may  go,  nay,  must  go,  if  he  is  to  become 
anything.  Good  friend  as  the  doctor  is,  I  cannot  rely  onf 
him  in  this  point,  for  he  is  an  eccentric,  and  an  eccentric  is} 
no  fitting  model  for  a  young  man.  For  this  reason  I  have 
been  all  the  time  wishing  for  you.  You  know  the  boys  so 
well,  and  they  are  so  fond  of  you.  I  know  no  one  to  whom 
I  would  so  willingly  intrust  them." 

"  But,  Paula,  a  workman  in  a  machine-shop,  a  mere  com- 
mon journeyman  blacksmith,  is  no  pattern  for  students  and 
young  artists." 

"  You  will  not — yes,  you  will  always  be  a  workman,  but 
not  always  a  journeyman  :  you  will  become  a  master,  a  great 
master  in  your  craft.  And  the  day  is  no  longer  distant ;  at 
least  it  is  much  nearer  than  you  think.  You  do  not  know 
your  own  worth." 

Paula  said  this  with  a  slightly  elevated  voice,  and  with 
flashing  eyes.  I  was  so  in  the  habit  of  giving  full  confidence 
to  her  words,  and  it  had  so  prophetic  a  sound,  that  I  did  not 
venture  to  express  the  slight  doubt  that  arose  in  my  mind  as 
to  its  fulfilment. 


44^  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

At  this  moment  came  a  ring  at  the  bell.  "  It  is  my 
mother  and  the  boys,''  Paula  said  hurriedly  and  softly. 

"  They  do  not  know  that  you  have  been  two  weeks  at  lib- 
erty ;  my  mother  could  not  comprehend  how  you  could  let 
so  long  a  time  elapse  without  coming  to  see  us,  after  you  had 
once  reached  the  city.  You  must  not  let  her  know  that  it 
has  been  so  long.'' 

At  this  they  came  rushing  in  at  the  door  :  Oscar,  my  fa- 
vorite, Kurt,  my  second  favorite,  and  Benno,  who  had  always 
been  my  third  favorite,  who  came  with  his  mother  on  his 
arm  ;  and  there  was  rejoicing,  and  shaking  hands,  and  kisses, 
and  exultations,  and  perhaps  some  tears,  though  I  am  not 
sure.  Of  course  I  must  spend  the  day  with  them.  And  in 
the  evening  nothing  could  keep  them  from  seeing  me  home, 
that  they  might  bring  their  sister  word  where  and  how  I  was 
living  :  and  then  I  went  back  with  them  a  piece  of  the  way 
until  they  were  out  of  the  workmen's  quarter,  and  in  a  part 
of  the  town  which  they  knew  better  ;  and  when  I  returned 
it  was  very  late,  and  I  fell  asleep  at  once  and  had  a  long 
dream  about  the  picture  which  Paula  had  painted,  and  Her- 
mine  had  bought,  and  the  fair  Bellini,  who  resembled  Con- 
stance von  Zehren,  had  so  much  admired. 


C  H  A  P  T  E  R   I  V .  , 

TO  be  sure,  if  I  had  any  fancy  at  this  time  for  indulging 
in  dreaming,  I  had  to  do  it  at  night,  for  by  day  I  had 
no  leisure  for  such  vagaries.  By  day  I  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  work — hard  jealous  work,  that  kept  me  busy 
from  the  early  morning  to  late  at  night — now  thrusting  the 
heavy  hammer  into  my  hand  and  giving  me  a  mass  of  iron 
to  conquer,  and  then  placing  in  my  fingers  the  pen  with 
which  I  covered  page  after  page  with  long  rows  of  figures 
and  complicated  formulas.  Altogether  it  was  a  pleasant 
time,  and  even  now  I  think  of  it  with  pleasure  tempered  with 
sadness.  In  our  memory  the  brightest  light  always  lies 
upon  those  periods  of  our  lives  in  which  we  have  striven  for- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


AA^ 


ward  most  eagerly,  and  I  was  now,  in  all  senses,  a  striver, 
and  there  was  no  day  in  which  I  did  not  mount  at  least  one 
round  of  the  steep  ladder.  Now  it  was  some  bit  of  technical 
dexterity  that  I  caught  from  my  fellow-workmen  ;  now  a  new 
formula  which  I  had  calculated  myself ;  and  at  all  times  the 
delightful  sensation  of  rising,  of  progressing,  of  increasing 
powers,  the  joyous  consciousness  that  a  far  heavier  burden 
might  lie  upon  my  shoulders  without  danger  of  my  sinking 
under  it.  It  was  a  happy,  a  delightful  time  ;  and  whenever 
I  think  of  it,  it  is  as  if  the  perfume  of  violets  and  roses  were 
floating  around  me,  and  as  if  then  the  days  must  all  have 
been  days  of  spring. 

And  yet  it  was  not  spring,  but  a  rough  severe  winter,  in 
which  the  icy  sky  lay  gray  and  heavy  above  the  snow-piled 
roofs  and  the  filthy  factory-yards,  while  the  sparrows  fluttered 
about  all  day,  seeking  in  vain  for  food,  and  at  night  the  fam- 
ishing crows  expressed  their  sufferings  in  incessant  cawing  ; 
and  day  by  day  we  saw  pale,  hollowed-eyed,  ragged  figures, 
in  ever-increasing  numbers,  wandering  in  the  stormv  streets, 
or  crouching  at  night  in  the  dim  light  of  the  lamps  up>on  the 
steps  of  the  houses,  or  where  any  projecting  masonry  offered 
therrf  a  little  shelter. 

I  now  walked  the  streets  more  frequently,  for,  notwith- 
standing the  distance  at  which  my  friends  lived,  no  week 
passed  in  which  I  did  not  spend  at  least  one  evening  with 
them.  Then  Benno,  who  was  now  studying  chemistry  and 
physics,  and  had  occasion  to  repair  some  deficiencies  in  his 
mathematics,  came  twice  a  week  to  my  room  to  work  with 
me,  and  I  then  accompanied  him  back  half  the  way,  and 
sometimes  the  whole  distance.  It  had  been  discussed 
whether  I  had  not  better  take  another  lodging,  nearer  to 
them  ;  but  Paula  decided  that  it  was  best  for  me  to  live  where 
my  work  was  ;  and  one  Sunday  forenoon  she  came  with  her 
brothers  to  pay  me  a  visit,  and  convince  me  that  I  by  no 
means  lived  entirely  out  of  her  reach,  as  I  had  maintained.  She 
pronounced  my  inhabiting  the  lonely  ruinous  court  of  the 
machine-works,  which  her  hope  looked  to  in  the  future,  per- 
fectly absurd  ;  and  the  fitting-up  of  my  room  with  the  old 
worm-eaten  rococo  furniture  of  the  previous  century  a  crack- 
brained  fancy ;  but  she  observed  it  all  with  the  warmest  in- 
terest, and  did  not  conceal  that  she  was  touched  by  the  sight 


45©  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

of  the  terra-cotta  vases  on  the  mantel-piece,  and  the  copy  of 
the  Sistine  Madonna  on  the  walk. 

"  Stay  here,"  she  finally  said  ;  "  not  because  this  lodging 
is  convenient  for  you,  and  is  really  original  enough  ;  nor  be- 
cause the  fitting-up  does  honor  to  your  taste,  wanting  only  a 
set  of  curtains,  which  I  will  make  for  you,  and  a  piece  of 
carpet  by  your  writing-table,  which  I  undertake  to  provide  ; 
for  these  are  trifles.  What  determines  my  opinion  is  the 
feeling  that  you  belong  here  ;  that  this  place  belongs  to  you 
already,  as  if  like  a  conqueror  you  had  taken  possession  of 
this  desolate  province,  and  planted  your  standard  first  of  all. 
The  rest  will  surely  follow.  I  fancy  that  I  see  these  heaps 
of  stone  already  growing  up  into  stately  buildings,  the  fire 
leaping  from  the  tall  chimneys,  and  these  vacant  courts  alive 
with  busy  workmen  ;  this  house  changed  to  a  handsome 
villa,  and  you  ruling  and  directing  the  whole  as  master  and 
owner.  Stay  here,  George ;  the  place  will  bring  you  good 
fortune." 

Words  like  these,  from  Paula's  lips,  had  for  me  the  force 
of  irresistible  conviction,  as  the  words  of  a  consecrated 
priestess  might  have  for  her  trusting  worshippers.  Not  that 
I  always  cheerfully  and  willingly  acquiesced  in  her  views ;  it 
would  have  been,  for  example,  far  more  pleasant  to  me  if 
Paula  had  said:  "Your  lodging  is  very  well  situated  for 
your  purposes,  it  is  true  ;  but  I  would  rather  have  you  nearer 
to  me  ;  I  see  you  now  once  a  week,  and  I  could  then  see 
you  twice,  or  perhaps  every  day."  And  then  I  upbraided  my- 
self that  I  did  not  value  Paula's  desire  to  advise  me  always 
for  the  best,  higher  than  all  else  ;  but  still  I  could  not  help 
wishing  that  this  advice,  however  good,  had  not  seemed 
quite  so  easy  for  her  to  give. 

When  I  was  thus  brought  to  reflect  upon  my  relations  with 
Paula  it  could  not  escape  even  my  inexperience  that  these 
relations  were  different  from  what  they  used  to  be.  One  cir- 
cumstance especially  proved  this  fact.  The  boys  and  I  had 
from  the  first  used  to  each  other  the  familiar  "  thou  ;  "  but 
between  Paula  and  myself  the  formal  "  you  "  had  never  been 
laid  aside,  not  even  in  those  trying  days  after  the  death  of 
her  father,  when  we  had  hand-in-hand  to  face  the  storm 
which  had  burst  over  us  all.  Even  then,  when  our  hearts 
were  moved  to  their  lowest  depths,  and  our  tears  were 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  451 

mingled,  the  brotherly  "  thou  "  had  never  risen  to  our  lips. 
And  now  she  used  it  to  me  from  the  very  moment  of  our 
meeting.  The  evening  before  I  would  have  deemed  it  im- 
possible ;  now,  that  it  was  really  so,  I  could  scarcely  believe  it. 
Did  I  feel  that  the  very  thing  which  made  our  intercourse 
easy  and  unrestrained  was  at  the  same  time  a  strong  fetter 
with  which  Paula  bound  my  hands  ?  Was  it  with  that  inten- 
tion or,  not  1     I  did  not  know  nor  hope  ever  to  know. 

Of  course  I  did  not  go  about  tormenting  mj'self  with  this 
enigma.  Guessing  riddles  was  a  kind  of  work  in  which  I 
had  no  skill,  so  for  the  most  part  I  enjoyed  unalloyed  the 
happiness  which  the  friendship  of  this  noble-hearted  girl, 
and  of  her  amiable  family  afforded  me.  Every  moment 
spent  in  their  society  was  precious  to  me,  nor  could  I  any- 
where have  found  more  purifying  and  ennobling  influences. 

I  do  not  recall  a  single  instance  of  the  slightest  misunder- 
standing occurring  between  the  members  of  this  family,  or 
even  of  one  raising  the  voice  in  momentary  irritation.  In 
affectionate  devotion  to  their  mother,  in  chivalrously  tender 
love  for  their  sister,  the  brothers  were  literally  one  heart  and 
one  soul ;  and  if  even  a  shadow  of  misunderstanding  threat- 
ened to  fall  between  them,  one  word  of  Paula's,  yes,  often  a 
mere  glance  from  her  loving  eyes,  sufficed  to  banish  it.  Now 
as  ever  was  Paula  the  good  genius  of  the  family,  the  honored 
priestess  to  whose  keeping  was  committed  the  sacred  flame 
of  the  hearth,  the  helper,  the  comforter,  the  adviser  to  whom 
each  turned  when  he  needed  aid,  consolation  or  counsel. 
And  with  what  maidenly  grace  she  wore  this  priestly  crown ! 
Who  that  did  not  know  her  could  have  divined  that  this  deli- 
cate creature  was  not  only  the  moral  support  of  the  whole 
family,  but  that  this  small,  slender,  diligent  hand  also  pro- 
vided their  daily  bread  ?  Yet  this  was  the  fact :  indeed  it 
could  hardly  now  be  doubted  that  she  would  soon  be  able  to 
raise  her  family  to  a  comparatively  brilliant  position.  Her 
Monk  and  Templar  had  been  purchased  by  one  of  the  wealthi- 
est bankers  at  an  unusually  high  price,  and  there  was  al- 
ready another  picture  upon  her  easel  which  had  been  bought 
at  an  even  higher  price  before  it  was  begun. 

A  picture-dealer — not  the  one  who  used  to  buy  at  a  trifling 
price  those  pictures  of  Paula's  which  he  afterwards  sold  to 
Doctor  Snellius  for  handsome  sums,  but  one  of  the  first  in 


452  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  city,  came  to  Paula  and  asked  if  she  could  paint  a  hunt- 
ing piece.  Just  at  that  time  there  was  a  run  on  hunting- 
pieces  :  Prince  Philip  Francis  had  brought  them  into  fashion, 
and  the  nobility  had  run  mad  about  them,  so  the  Jewish 
bankers  naturally  began  to  take  an  interest  in  hares  and 
foxes.  Paula  answered  that  she  had  not  yet  painted  a  pic- 
ture of  this  kind,  and  did  not  feel  warranted  to  undertake 
the  commission  \  but  the  dealer  was  so  importunate,  and  the 
price  he  offered  so  high — "  what  do  you  think  of  it  ? "  Paula 
asked  me.     "  Do  you  think  I  can  do  it  ? " 

"  How  can  you  doubt  it  ?  "  I  replied.  "  The  landscape 
and  the  figures  will  give  you  no  trouble,  and  as  for  the  tech- 
nical part,  I  can  help  you,  if  you  have  an)'^  difficulty  with  it." 

"  You  have  told  me  so  many  things  about  your  hunter's 
life  with  Uncle  Malte,"  said  Paula,  "  and  one  scene  has  es- 
pecially fixed  itself  in  my  memory.  It  was  in  the  earlier 
time  of  your  stay  at  Zehrendorf,  and  you  were  sitting  at 
breakfast  with  my  uncle  on  the  heath,  in  the  shadow  of  a 
tree  which  grew  on  the  edge  of  a  hollow  ;  my  uncle  was  en- 
joying the  repose  of  the  bivouac,  when  suddenly  a  hare 
came  in  sight  on  the  edge  of  the  mound.  Flinging  bottle 
and  glass  away,  you  siezed  your  gun,  when  the  hare  turned 
out  to  be  a  lean  old  wether  grazing  on  the  heath.  Would 
not  that  make  a  picture  !  " 

"  You  might  try  it  at  all  events,"  I  said. 

She  tried  it,  and  the  attempt,  as  I  had  never  doubted, 
succeeded  capitally.  Even  one  who  took  no  interest  in  the 
somewhat  humorous  character  of  the  incident  must  at  least 
have  been  captivated  by  the  beauty  of  the  landscape.  The 
autumnal  sunlight  on  the  brown  heath,  to  the  left  the  white 
dunes  between  which  here  and  there  glistened  the  blue  sea, 
— all  this  was  painted  with  a  delicious  freshness  that  one 
felt  invigorated  even  by  looking  at  it.  And  the  little  scene 
which  comprised  the  action  of  the  picture  was  so  clearly 
rendered  that  no  one  could  fail  to  understand  it — the  elder 
hunter,  lying  in  the  grassy  bank  with  his  hand  under  his 
head,  only  taking  the  short  pipe  from  his  mouth  to  laugh  at 
his  companion,  who  with  flashing  eyes  and  in  the  greatest 
excitement  has  half-risen  to  his  knee,  and  a  few  paces  off 
the  silly  sheep's  face  looking  over  the  heath,  and  saluting 
his  over-hasty  friend  with  a  bleat  of  insulting  confidence  ; — 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  453 

it  was  enough  to  bring  a  smile  upon  the  face  of  the  gloom- 
iest hypochondriac.  Naturally  the  elder  hunter  gradually 
assumed  the  features  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  and  the  young 
novice  day  by  day  grew  into  a  likeness  of  me. 

"  I  ought  not,  really,  to  have  introduced  you  again  into 
one  of  my  pictures,"  said  Paula,  "  for  two  reasons  :  first, 
that  you  may  not  grow  vain,  and  secondly  that  people  may  not 
think  me  barren  of  all  invention.  But  in  fact  I  cannot  picture 
^the  scene  to  myself  without  you,  any  more  than  I  can  with- 
out my  poor  uncle  ;  and  I  fear  if  I  were  to  leave  you  both 
out  the  picture  would  be  a  poor  one.  You  must  give  me  one 
or  two  of  your  Sunday  mornings.  Of  course  I  know  your 
face  well  enough,  and  could  paint  it,  I  think,  with  any  ex- 
pression ;  but  the  action  of  a  person  throwing  down  a  glass 
with  his  left  hand,  and  reaching  for  his  gun  with  his  right, 
half-raised  on  his  right  knee  while  the  left  is  still  extended, 
is  too  complicated  for  me  to  paint  without  a  model." 

Thus  it  came  that  for  several  successive  Sunday  mornings 
I  spent  delightful  hours  in  Paula's  studio.  The  time  never 
seemed  long  to  us.  I  had  so  frequently  gone  over  the 
ground  of  Paula's  landscape  that  I  could  describe  to  her 
every  bush,  every  tuft  of  grass,  every  peculiarity  of  the  sur- 
face, and  every  effect  of  light  upon  the  sandy  dunes  or  the 
bushy  heath.  And  while  I  was  able  thus  to  be  really  of  use 
to  the  dear  girl,  it  was  a  sweet  reward  to  me  to  hear  from 
her  own  lips  that,  if  the  picture  turned  out  a  good  one,  as 
she  almost  believed  it  would,  it  was  in  great  measure  owing 
to  me.  Then  we  had  so  many  things  to  talk  about :  my  pro- 
gress in  my  trade,  my  increasing  knowledge  of  the  steam- 
engine,  were  topics  of  which  Paula  could  never  hear  enough. 
Or  else  the  question  was  discussed  whether  Kurt,  who  was 
now  in  his  sixteenth  year,  ought  to  remain  longer  at  school, 
or  commence  learning  his  trade,  and  if  Streber's  works  were 
the  right  place,  and  Klaus,  who  was  now  a  master-workman, 
the  right  master  for  this  richly-gifted  pupil.  This  led  us 
again  to  speak  of  Klaus,  what  a  good-natured  and  excellent 
fellow  he  was,  and  of  Christel,  whether  any  one  would  re- 
spond to  her  inquiry  in  the  Dutch  newspapers,  and  if  so, 
whether  this  some  one  would  be  a  Javanese  aunt,  as  Klaus 
and  Christel  firmly  maintained,  or  a  Sumatran  uncle. 

So  we  were  chatting  together  one  morning,  Paula  at  her 


454  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

easel,  while  I  was  pacing  backwards  and  forwards  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  room,  with  my  hands  behind  my  back. 
The  winter  sun  shown  so  brightly  that  the  light  had  to  be 
lessened  at  the  high  window  near  which  the  easel  stood, 
while  at  the  others  it  streamed  brilliantly  in,  in  clustering 
beams  in  which  the  motes  were  dancing.  Frau  von  Zehren 
was  out  walking  with  her  sons.  A  Sabbath  stillness  per- 
vaded the  house,  and  when  Paula  ceased  speaking  I  felt  like 
Uhland's  shepherd,  who  "  alone  upon  a  wide  plain  hears  the 
morning  bell,  and  then  all  is  silent,  near  and  far." 

Suddenly  the  hall-bell  rang. 

"  I  had  hoped  we  should  not  be  troubled  with  any  visitors 
to-day,"  I  said  with  some  annoyance. 

"  Eminence  must  pay  its  penalty,"  said  Paula,  jestingly. 
"  Let  us  only  hope  they  will  not  stay  too  long." 

At  this  moment  the  girl  opened  the  door.  I  stopped  my 
walk,  and  stood,  stark  with  amazement,  in  the  background, 
as  I  saw  two  gentlemen  enter,  one  of  whom  was  Arthur  von 
Zehren,  while  the  other,  whom  with  a  polite  bow  he  had 
motioned  to  precede  him,  awakened  in  me  some  faint  recol- 
lection which  I  could  not  precisely  define. 

"  I  have  the  honor,"  said  Arthur,  after  apologizing  to  his 
cousin,  with  that  grace  of  manner  that  always  belonged  to 
him,  for  not  having  called  upon  her  immediately  after  his  re- 
turn— "  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  Count  Ralow, 
whose  acquaintance  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  make  in  Lon- 
don, and  who  is  a  great  connoisseur,  and  an  equally  great 
admirer  of  your  talents." 

"  My  friend  has  not  described  me  quite  correctly,"  said 
the  count,  bowing  respectfully  to  Paula.  "  I  am  by  no 
means  a  great  connoisseur  ;  but  he  is  quite  right  in  calling  me 
a  great  admirer  of  your  talents.  I  have  seen  your  picture  at 
the  exhibition,  and  been  charmed  with  it,  like  all  the  world  ; 
and  as  your  cousin  was  presumptuous  enough  to  offer  to  pre- 
sent me  to  you,  I  could  not  forego  a  piece  of  such  singular 
good  fortune." 

The  young  man,  whose  glance  now  fell  for  the  first  time 
upon  the  picture,  suddenly  started  back,  but  rather  with  the 
gesture  of  one  who  is  unpleasantly  startled  "than  of  one  who 
is  agreeably  surprised.  And  well  might  he  be  startled,  when 
he  suddenly  recognized  in  the  hunter  by  the  willow-tree  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


455 


Wild  Zehren.  the  man  who  had  only  needed  an  opportunity 
to  bathe  his  hands  in  the  blood  that  flowed  in  the  veins  of 
Prince  Karl  of  Prora-Wiek. 

It  had  been  now  eight  years  since  I  had  seen  him,  and  m 
my  whole  life  I  had  only  seen  him  twice :  once  in  the  dim 
light  of  an  autumn  afternoon  as  he  flew  by  me  at  a  rapid 
gallop,  and  the  second  time  in  the  dark  forest  by  the  glim- 
mering moonlight ;  but  the  slender  figure  and  the  pale,  re- 
fined face  had  impressed  themselves  indelibly  upon  my 
memory. 

"  Beautiful !  "  said  the  prince.  "  Admirable  !  superb  ! 
This  sunlight,  this  heath — I  know  all  this — know  it  perfectly. 
I  tell  you,  Zehren,  even  to  the  minutest  details  it  is  nature 
itself!     Is  it  not?" 

Arthur  did  not  answer,  for  if  the  confusion  of  the  prince 
at  the  first  sight  of  the  picture  had  surprised  him,  he 
entirely  lost  his  presence  of  mind  when  he  caught  sight  of 
me  in  the  background,  where  I  had  been  standing  motion- 
less the  whole  time.  I  think  there  were  few  men  whom  Ar- 
thur von  Zehren  would  not  have  preferred  to  meet  in  his 
cousin's  studio  just  then. 

"  Is  it  not  so,  Zehren  ? "  the  prince  repeated,  rather  impa- 
tiently. 

"  Certainly  ;  it  is  perfectly  superb :  I  said  so  before,"  re- 
plied Arthur,  evidently  in  doubt  whether  it  would  not  be 
best  to  overlook  me  altogether. 

But  as  his  hesitation  did  not  prevent  him  from  casting  un- 
easy glances  at  me,  which  caused  the  eyes  of  the  prince  to  turn 
in  the  same  direction,  the  result  was  that  the  latter  perceived, 
at  the  end  of  the  studio,  a  tall,  broad-shouldered,  plainly- 
dressed  young  man,  with  curly  blond  beard  and  hair,  whom 
he  had  already  seen  in  the  character  of  King  Richard  in  the 
picture  at  the  exhibition,  and  now  again  saw  in  the  hunting- 
piece  on  the  easel.  Whom  could  he  suppose  that  he  had 
before  him  but  one  of  those  persons  who  go  from  studio  to 
studio,  now  as  a  model  for  Joseph,  and  now  for  Pharaoh  ? 
And  though  it  is  probable  that  the  prince  was  by  no  means 
addicted  to  minute  observation  of  models  in  artists'  studios, 
at  this  moment  any  opportunity  of  diverting  attention  from 
the  unlucky  picture  was  too  welcome  not  to  be  seized  at 


once. 


456  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Ah  !  here  is  our  original  for  King  What's-his-name  !  A 
splendid  fellow,  whom  I  should  like  to  see  in  the  regiment  of 
my  cousin,  Count  Schlachtensee  ;  don't  you  say  so,  Zehren  ? " 

The  unlucky  Arthur's  part  of  second-fiddle  was  a  hard  one 
to  play  to-day.  But  it  was  impossible  for  him,  now  that  I 
had  been  brought  directly  into  the  conversation,  to  pretend, 
not  to  know  his  old  schoolmate,  apart  from  the  fact  that 
Paula  would  hardly  have  forgiven  such  a  piece  of  insolence  ; 
and  he  perceived,  moreover,  by  my  looks  that  I  was  malicious 
enough  to  enjoy  his  confusion.  Indeed  I  fear  that  I  even  in- 
dulged in  a  smile  whose  significance  could  not  escape  him, 
so  he  had  no  alternative — it  was  highly  exasperating,  but  he 
really  had  no  other — but  to  turn  to  me  with  as  pleasant  a 
smile  as  he  could  force  to  his  whitened  lips,  and  while  toy- 
ing with  his  eyeglass,  so  as  to  have  no  hand  free  to  offer  me, 
to  accost  me  in  an  affectedly  condescending  tone  : 

"Ah  !  see  there  !  are  we  at  last  out  of  the — ahem — again  ? 
Congratulate  you — congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart — upon 
my  honor — ahem  !  " 

The  young  prince's  looks  grew  by  no  means  brighter  dur- 
ing this  singular  salutation  of  his  second.  The  expression 
of  my  face,  which  he  now  observed  more  closely,  and  Arthur's 
evident  embarrassment,  showed  that  there  was  something 
wrong  here ;  and  at  this  moment  he  happened  to  catch  a 
glance  exchanged  between  Paula  and  myself,  which  probably 
seemed  another  mesh  in  the  net  which  was  here  being  drawn 
over  his  princely  head.  But  now  it  seemed  to  Paula  high 
time  to  interpose  and  put  an  end  to  this  singular  scene. 

"  You  would  have  sooner  had  the  pleasure,"  she  said, 
turning  to  Arthur,  "  of  meeting  your  old  schoolmate,  if  you 
had  found  your  way  to  our  house  earlier  during  the  fortnight 
that  you  have  been  here  ;  George  has  been  in  the  city  three 
months.  This  gentleman" — she  went  on,  turning  to  the 
prince — " is  my  oldest  and  dearest  friend,  who  stood  faith- 
fully by  me  at  a  time  of  great  trial,  and  who  now  devotes  a 
few  hours  of  his  valuable  time  to  aid  my  imperfect  invention 
with  his  advice.  I  esteem  it  an  honor  to  introduce  to  you 
Herr  George  Hartwig." 

At  hearing  my  name  the  prince  changed  color  and  bit  his 
lip,  though  he  made  a  great  effort  to  accost  the  lady's  oldest 
and  dearest  friend  with  a  polite  phrase.     Doubtless  he  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil. . 


457 


heard  my  name  too  often  from  Constance  and  others,  and 
the  associations  connected  with  it  were  of  too  peculiar  a 
character  for  more  amusing  and  more  agreeable  experiences 
to  obliterate  it  entirely,  even  from  the  defective  memory  of 
the  young  prince.  A  dim  recollection  of  a  tall  figure  before 
which  he  had  once  crouched  in  a  dark  forest — and  then  the 
circumstance  that  this  man  with  the  broad  shoulders  and  the 
memorable  name  stood  by  the  side  of  the  Wild  Zehren  in  the 
picture  by  the  hand  of  Paula  von  Zehren, — all  this  suddenly 
fitted  into  one  combination.  The  prince  had  to  find  the 
meaning  of  it  all,  however  pleasant  it  might  have  been  to 
have  been  spared  the  whole  riddle. 

Just  at  this  disagreeable  moment,  that  is  to  say  just  at  the 
right  time,  the  Prince  of  Prora-Wiek  remembered  what  he 
owed  to  himself  The  signs  of  embarrassment  vanished 
from  his  face  and  his  manner  ;  he  looked  calmly  at  the  pic- 
ture and  at  me,  comparing  the  copy  with  the  original,  and 
said  a  number  of  pretty  things  to  Paula,  which,  if  not  quite 
well  considered,  and  possibly  not  even  well  meant,  sounded 
as  if  they  were  both.  He  hastily  glanced  at  the  drawings 
on  the  walls,  and  turned  over  the  sketches  in  an  open  port- 
folio, declared  that  the  light  in  the  studio  was  admirable,  and 
the  whole  arrangement  exquisitely  original  and  poetic,  then 
remembered  that  he  had  been  summoned  to  an  audience  of 
the  princess,  for  which  he  would  be  too  late  if  he  did  not 
take  his  leave  at  once,  and  went  off  with  his  companion. 

In  half  a  minute  we  heard  the  prince's  coupe,  which  had 
been  standing  at  the  door,  drive  off,  and  we  looked  at  each 
other  and  laughed,  laughed  with  great  apparent  enjoyment, 
and  then  suddenly  became  grave. 

"  This  is  the  great  annoyance  of  our  calling,"  said  Paula. 
"  Inquisitive  visitors  cannot  be  refused  admission  ;  indeed 
we  are  expected  to  be  highly  gratified  if  they  come,  and  then 
chatter  everywhere  about  our  skill  and  the  subject  of  our 
last  picture.  But,  as  I  said,  it  is  an  annoyance  at  best ;  and 
Arthur  might  have  been  more  considerate  than  to  present 
himself  in  this  fashion  after  staying  away  so  long.  His  oniv 
apology  is  that  he  meant  kindly,  and  thought  he  was  bring 
ing  me  a  distinguished  and  wealthy  patron.  Certainly,  if 
one  may  judge  by  the  exterior,  this  Count  Ralow  must  be 
both  very  distinguished  and  very  rich." 


20 


458  .  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  The  inference  is  correct  this  time,  at  all  events,"  I  said  ; 
"  and  if  you  want  the  proof — it  was  the  young  Prince  Prora." 

"  Impossible  !  "  said  Paula. 

"  I  am  sure  of  it,"  I  replied.  "  I  have  seen  in  the  papers 
that  the  prince  has  lately  visited  England,  where  Arthur  says 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  this  Count  Ralow.  But  I 
should  have  recognized  him  without  that ;  and  besides,  I  now 
remember  that  the  Princes  of  Prora  are  also  Counts  von 
Ralow." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  Paula,  "though  I  should 
have  preferred  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  prince  under 
his  proper  title." 

"  I  consider  this  incognito  a  piece  of  rudeness.  Why  can 
he  not  call  upon  you  as  he  does  upon  the  princess  ?  But 
the  real  impertinence  lies  in  his  coming  here  at  all.  The 
former  lover  of  Constance  had  no  business  to  present  him- 
self to  Constance's  cousin.  I  felt  all  this  strongly  enough 
at  the  time,  Paula  ;  but  I  also  felt  that  your  house  and  your 
apartment  were  not  the  place  to  discuss  these  matters." 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  considerateness,"  said  Paula, 
taking  my  hand  in  hers.  "  I  saw  in  your  eyes  that  you  were 
placing  a  restraint  upon  yourself  about  something.  Men 
best  prove  their  respect  for  women  when  they  do  not  suffer 
any  storms  of  this  kind  to  break  loose  in  their  presence  ; 
and  as  to  this  matter,  I  beg  of  you  to  dismiss  it  from  your 
thoughts.  You  have  suffered  far  too  much  from  it  already  \ 
it  is  time  you  had  rid  yourself  of  it  once  for  all." 

'*  Yes,  if  that  were  only  possible,"  I  said ;  and  then  I  told 
Paula,  what  I  had  never  mentioned  to  her  before,  about  my 
meeting  at  the  exhibition  with  the  beautiful  Bellini,  who  had 
so  striking  a  resemblance  to  Constance.  "  I  have  certainly 
no  reason  to  cherish  any  love  for  Constance,"  I  said  ;  "  on 
the  contrary,  I  can  meet  her  seducer  without  the  slightest 
feeling  of  hatred  or  revenge  ;  and  yet  the  image  of  that 
beautiful  woman  follows  me  everywhere,  and  it  could  not  be 
otherwise  had  I  seen  Constance  herself     Now  why  is  this  ?" 

"  Constance  was  your  first  love,"  Paula  answered,  *'  and 
that  makes  a  difference  with  men." 

"  With  men,  Paula  ?  Do  you  mean  that  with  women  it  is 
otherwise  ?" 

"  I  do  mean  that,"  she  replied.     "  A  woman's  first  love 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


459 


differs  from  a  man's,  and  exceeds  it.  Exceeds  it  in  proper- 
tion  as  a  man  is  more  to  a  woman  than  a  woman  to  a  man."  \ 

"  What  kind  of  new  philosophy  do  you  call  that  ?" 

"It  is  no  new  philosophy:  at  least  it  is  as  old  as  my 
thoughts  upon  these  matters,  which  is  no  very  great  age,  it 
is  true." 

A  faint  flush  tinged  her  usually  pale  cheeks,  but  it  seemed 
that  altogether  she  was  not  displeased  that  we  had  fallen 
upon  this  theme,  and  she  continued  with  some  animation  : 

"  A  man's  life  is  more  full  of  change,  richer  in  deeds  and 
events,  than  a  woman's ;  and  for  this  reason  individual  im- 
pressions, even  the  strongest,  do  not  remain  so  long  with 
them.  They  have  so  many  new  and  more  important  things 
to  record  on  the  tablet  of  their  life  that  they  are  obliged 
from  time  to  time  to  efface  the  old  writing  with  the  sponge 
of  forgetfulness.  With  us  women  it  is  altogether  different : 
we  do  not  willingly  efface  a  word  which  sounds  sweetly  to 
our  ears,  much  less  a  line,  much  less  a  whole  page  of  our 
poor  life.  And  then  even  when  a  man  has  an  unusually  te- 
nacious memory,  he  can  not  act  and  choose  as  he  will :  the 
stronger  and  manlier  his  nature,  the  more  does  he  act  and 
choose  as  he  must.  And  he  must  choose  suitably  to  his  age 
and  circumstances — to  use  another  phrase,  suitably  to  his 
development.  The  man  of  twenty-five  differs  from  the  youth 
of  nineteen  far  otherwise  than  the  woman  of  twenty-five  differs 
from  the  girl  of  nineteen ;  and  the  man  of  thirty-five  again 
is  another  man.  If  the  man  of  twenty-five  or  thirty-five 
should  make  the  same  choice  as  the  youth  of  nineteen — 
I  mean  such  a  choice  as  youth  makes,  romantically  unsel- 
fish and  inconsiderate — ^he  would  commit  a  folly,  in  my  eyes 
at  least" 

"  How  did  you  come  to  be  so  selfish  and  practical,  Paula  ? " 
I  inquired,  in  laughing  astonishment. 

"  One  grows  so,  I  suppose,"  she  said,  taking  up  palette 
and  brushes,  and  beginning  to  work. 

"  It  may  be  as  you  say,"  I  said,  "  when  one,  as  has  been 
your  case,  passes  through  a  marked  process  of  development ; 
so  that  the  laws  which  you  have  just  laid  down  as  governing 
us  men  are  very  possibly  applicable  to  yourself.  I  knew 
you  when  you  were  but  fifteen,  and  you  were  then  a  beginner 
in  your  art ;  now,  at  two-and^twenty,  you  are  an  artist,  and 


460  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

at  five-and-twenty  you  will  be  a  distinguished  one.  In  your 
case  it  is  intelligible  enough  that  the  Paula  of  to-day  has  no 
longer  those  romantic  illusions — to  the  future  Paula,  alas,  1 
cannot  venture  to  raise  my  thoughts." 

"  You  are  jesting,  and  cruelly  too,"  she  said  ;  "  and  your 
good  face  has  not  the  expression  that  I  could  wish  it  to  wear 
at  this  moment." 

"  I  do  not  jest  at  all,"  I  answered  emphatically.  "  1  per- 
fectly understand  that  your  claims  upon  life  must  rise  higher 
with  everv  vear — I  might  say  with  every  picture  you  pro- 
duce." 

"  Are  you  really  speaking  in  earnest  ?  " 

"  Perfectly  so  ;  do  you  not  wish  to  become  a  great  artist? " 

"  Assuredly,"  she  replied  ;  "  but  is  that  within  a  woman's 
power?  How  many  out  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
inspired  girls  and  women  who  have  turned  to  the  easel  or 
the  desk  have  become  great  artists?  Upon  the  stage  they 
may ;  but  I  have  often  questioned  whether  the  dramatic  art 
be  a  true  art,  or  rather  a  half-art,  in  which  half-talents  can 
reach  the  highest  eminence.  And  those  who  are  called  ac- 
tors of  genius,  what  are  they  in  comparison  with  men  of  true 
genius  in  art,  in  literature,  in  music  ?  As  far  beneath  them 
as  I  am  beneath  Raphael.  And  what  have  I  produced  so 
far  ?  Two  or  three  passable  heads  ;  a  striking  scene  or  so, 
which  I  took  directly  from  the  life  ;  recollections  from  books  ; 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  the  Monk — where  in  these  is  an 
original  invention,  a  single  trace  of  real  genius  ?  And  what 
is  this  picture  here  ?  What  have  I  done  towards  it  ?  Little 
more  than  mix  the  colors  ;  the  rest  is  all  of  your  invention. 
You  told  me  how  the  sunlight  falls  in  the  sandy  dunes,  how 
the  wind  waves  the  heads  of  the  heath-flowers  ;  you " 

"  But  Paula,  Paula',  you  talk  as  if  I  were  painting  your  pic- 
ture, and  as  if  you  could  paint  no  picture  without  me." 
'    "  And  I  have  painted  none  without  you  :  there  you  see  my 
miserable  poverty." 

I  could  not  see  with  what  expression  she  pronounced 
these  words,  for  she  had  bent  her  face  down  to  her  easel. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  461 


CHAPTERV. 

SINCE  her  success  at  the  exhibition  Paula  had  been  over- 
whelmed with  invitations,  and  she  had  accepted  one  for 
this  day  from  the  banker  Solomon,  the  purchaser  of 
the  Monk  and  Templar.  So  I  was  left  with  Frau  von  Zehren 
and  her  sons.  Yet  Paula  was  present  with  us  all,  and  with 
none  more  than  her  poor  mother  who  was  bereft  of  the  pleas- 
T'.re  of  seeing  her  daughter's  works. 

"  But  all  that  she  has  she  has  from  you,  mother,"  said 
Benno  ;  "  and  she  knows  that  herself  better  than  any  of 
us." 

"  Then  she  has  it  from  her  grandfather,"  said  Frau  von 
Zehren.  "  He  was  really  a  great  artist :  what  I  might  have 
done  I  cannot  say.  Unfortunately  it  was  never  granted  me 
to  develop  the  talent  that  I  had  ;  but  how  can  I  say  unfor- 
tunately ?  If  it  is  true,  as  you  say,  that  Paula's  talent  is 
mine,  then  her  success  is  my  success,  and  thus  I  perform 
the  miracle  of  becoming  a  great  painter  with  blind  eyes." 

A  gentle  smile  played  about  the  refined  lips  of  the  still 
beautiful  woman,  and  as  shortly  afterwards  I  retraced  my 
steps  homewards  through  the  dark  streets  her  face  contin- 
ually recurred  to  my  memory.  She  must  in  her  youth  have 
been  even  more  beautiful  than  Paula,  though  Paula's  beauty 
had  wonderfully  increased.  How  superbly  indignation  and 
shame  contended  in  her  features  as  that  coxcomb  of  a  prince 
strutted  about  her  studio  without  the  slightest  idea  of  how 
impertinent  he  was^  and  probably  fancying  all  the  time  that 
he  was  making  himself  unspeakably  agreeable. 

This  meeting  with  the  prince  who  had  been  my  favored 
rival  with  Constance,  and  with  Arthur,  whom  I  had  so  long 
believed  to  be  the  favored  lover  of  Paula,  gave  me  much 
matter  for  reflection,  more  indeed  than  was  advantageous 
for  the  progress  of  my  work,  to  which  I  had  applied  myself 
on  my  arrival  home.  As  I  recalled  the  refined  and  hand- 
some but  sadly  worn  face  of  the  young  prince,  his  eyes  now 
vacant,  now  burning  with  unnatural  fire,  the  twitchings  of  his 
brow  and  cheeks,  his  manner,  at  once  insinuating  and  super 
cillious,  I  felt  more  and  more  indignant  that  Arthur  should 


462  ITammer  and  Anvil. 

have  dai-ed  to  introduce  such  a  man  into  Paula's  house. 
What,  at  best,  could  be  his  motive  for  seeking  the  introduc- 
tion ?  The  gratification  of  ordinary  curiosity.  And  at 
worst  ?  I  ground  my  teeth  to  think  of  the  horrible  possi- 
bility. My  only  consolation  was  that  my  fear  that  Arthur 
might  have  won,  or  yet  win,  Paula's  affections,  now  appeared 
in  all  its  absurdity.  Clearly  such  a  fop  as  he  could  never  be 
dangerous  to  such  a  girl  as  Paula ;  though  fop  as  he  was,  he 
was  wonderfully  handsome,  the  perfect  model  of  an  elegant 
gentleman  in  irreproachable  kid  gloves  and  varnished  boots  ; 
a  little  vacant,  perhaps,  about  the  mouth,  adorned  with  a 
slight  black  beard,  and  a  little  hollow  under  the  large  dark 
eyes  that  had  lost  all  their  brilliancy.  It  is  possible  that  for 
certain  women  this  rendered  him  all  the  more  dangerous  ; 
but  what  had  Paula  in  common  with  such  ? 

Then  my  thoughts  wandered  from  the  prince,  whom  I  had 
seen  again  so  unexpectedly,  to  the  fair  Bellini  who  so  singu- 
larly resembled  Constance  ;  and  I  pushed  back  my  chair,  step- 
ped to  the  window,  which  Paula's  kindness  had  furnished  with 
dark  curtains,  and  leaning  my  heated  brow  against  the  glass 
looked  out,  in  drear}'^  musing,  into  the  yard,  across  which  I 
observed  a  figure  coming  through  the  freshly-fallen  snow,  di- 
rectly to  the  house.  My  thoughts  involuntarily  recurred  to 
the  figure  I  had  once  seen  stealing  by  moonlight  across  the 
lawn  to  Constance's  window.  Was  it  the  prince  ?  What 
brought  him  to  me  ?  The  figure  came  to  the  stair  that  led 
up  from  the  yard,  and  began  to  ascend  the  steps.  I  took  the 
lamp  from  the  table  to  give  light  to  the  visitor,  whoever  he 
might  be.  As  I  opened  the  door  of  my  room  he  was  just 
entering  the  house,  and  the  light  of  my  lamp  fell  brightly  on 
the  face  of  Arthur  von  Zehren. 

"  Thank  heaven  that  I  have  found  you  at  last,  and  with- 
out breaking  my  legs  or  my  neck !"  he  cried  upon  seeing  me. 
"  How  can  any  man  in  his  senses  live  in  such  a  place  ?  But 
you  always  were  an  original.  And  really  you  seem  com- 
fortably fixed  for  a  machinist,  or  whatever  it  was  that  the 
fellow  at  the  gate  called  you," — and  Arthur,  who  had  entered 
the  room  as  he  spoke,  threw  himself  into  the  arm-chair  which 
I  had  pushed  near  the  fireplace,  and  held  his  gloved  hands 
over  the  coals. 

I  remained  standing  by  the  fire,  and  said  :     "  What  pro- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  463 

cures  me  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  for  the  second  time  to- 
day?" 

"The  pleasure  does  not  seem  to  be  overwhelmmg,  to 
judge  from  your  tone  ;  and  in  fact  I  should  scarcely  have 
come  had  not  the  prince — I  mean  to  say,  had  not  I — what 
was  I  going  to  say  ?  oh,  yes — had  a  bit  of  business  to  settle 
with  you.  While  you  were — ^you  know  where — ^you  were  sev- 
eral times  so  obliging  as  to  help  me  out  of  some  small  diffi- 
culties. I  took  exact  note  of  it  all,  for  a  man  who  owes  as 
many  people  as  I  do  must  be  particular  in  these  matters  to 
keep  his  creditors  from  swindling  him.  Of  course  I  had 
nothing  of  the  sort  to  fear  from  you  ;  but  out  of  mere  habit 
I  took  a  note  of  it,  and  this  is  the  amount,  without  the  in- 
terest, which  I  cannot  calculate,  and  therefore  would  rather 
leave  off— a  hundred  and  sixty  thalers.  I  happen  to  be  in 
funds  just  now,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  acquit  myself 
of  my  debt  to  you." 

And  rising  from  his  chair  he  counted  down  a  pile  of 
treasury-notes  on  the  table. 

"Will  you  count  them  over?"  he  continued  ;  "I  have  just 
come  from  a  dinner  where  we  had  famous  champagne,  and  a 
charming  little  game  afterwards ;  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that  I  may  have  miscounted  them." 

He  looked  at  me  with  a  smile  that  was  meant  to  be  sly, 
and  balanced  himself  unsteadily  on  his  toes  and  heels  :  it 
was  too  evident  that  he  had  come  from  a  dinner  at  which  the 
champagne  had  not  been  spared. 

"  What  I  was  going  to  say,"  he  went  on — "  your  lamp  bums 
so  dim  that  one  can  hardly  collect  his  ideas — going  to  say, 
was  this  :  it  was  with  the  very  best  motive  that  he  sent  me 
here.  He  is  the  noblest  fellow  living — ^heart  and  purse — all 
genuine  gold,  as  long  as  he  has  any.  So  you  need  not  have 
any  scruple,  old  fellow.  And  I  was  going  to  say — oh,  in 
what  relation  did  you  ever  stand  to  the  prince  ?  He  told  me 
himself  that  he  was  under  an  obligation  to  you  ;  but  what  it 
can  be  is  a  mysterious  enigma  to  me — a  mysterious  enigma," 
he  repeated,  leaning  back  in  the  arm-chair  into  which  he  had 
thrown  himself  again,  and  warming  his  feet  alternately  at 
the  fire. 

"  You  do  not  seem  to  be  in  a  condition  to  solve  enigmas," 
I  said. 


464  Hammer  and  Afwil. 

"  Because  I  have  had  a  little  wine,  you  mean  ?  Oh,  that 
is  nothing  at  all ;  on  the  contrary,  but  for  that  I  should 
never  have  found  my  way  here,  notwithstanding  I  took  the 
precaution  this  morning  to  get  your  address  from  Paula's 
porter.  Was  not  that  a  happy  idea  ?  But  one  must  always 
be  ready  in  matters  of  that  kind  when  one  wishes  to  be  inti- 
mate with  men  of  high  rank  ;  and  he  takes  an  interest  in 
you,  too — a  most  astonishing  interest." 

I  had  by  this  time  enough  of  his  tipsy  talk,  and  said : 
"  I  do  not  know,  Arthur,  if  you  are  in  a  condition  to  under- 
stand me.  If  you  are,  let  me  tell  you  once  for  all,  that  I  am 
fortunately  in  a  position  not  to  care  a  single  farthing  whether 
Prince  Prora  takes  an  interest  in  me  or  not ;  and  you  your- 
self, as  far  as  I  can  see,  would  be  doing  yourself  a  service  by 
mixing  yourself  as  little  as  possible  in  the  prince's  concerns, 
in  this  direction  at  least." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Arthur,  "  but  that  I  foresaw.  You 
are  a  lucky  fellow ;  you  need  no  one,  and  are  sufficient  for 
yourself  Always  sober,  always  prudent,  always  clear- 
headed, and  always  in  funds  ;  while  a  fellow  like  me  is  for- 
ever in  some  devilish  embroilment.  But  so  it  always  has 
been  and  always  will  be.  I  have  often  wished  I  had  been 
the  son  of  a  carter,  had  been  beaten  and  knocked  about,  and 
forced  to  work  ^r  my  bread,  instead  of  this  glittering  misery, 
in  which  I  starve  one  day  and  live  in  luxury  the  next.  It  is 
a  misery,  old  fellow,  a  misery  ;  but  the  best  thing  is  that  one 
can  blow  his  brains  out  whenever  he  chooses." 

I  knew  this  declamation  of  old.  It  was  the  same,  with 
but  a  slight  alteration  of  the  words,  which  Arthur  used  to 
deliver  in  our  school-days  when  he  had  drunk  too  much  of 
the  bad  punch  at  a  boyish  carouse,  and  got  to  talking  of 
his  unpaid  glove  bills  and  his  little  dealings  with  Moses  in 
the  Water-street.  And  it  was  the  same  Arthur,  too,  the 
same  frivolous,  selfish,  cold-hearted  voluptuary,  with  the  soft 
voice  and  the  insinuating  manners  ;  and  I — I  was  just  the 
same  good-natured  fellow,  whom  a  light  word  carelessly 
spoken  could  move  as  if  it  came  direct  from  the  heart.  And 
I  had  loved  him  in  my  young  days,  when  I  wore  a  linen 
blouse  and  he  a  velvet  jacket ;  we  had  played  so  many 
merry  pranks  together,  and  so  often  basked  in  the  afternoon 
sunshine  in  field  and  wood,  and  in   the  boat  at  sea ;  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


465 


things  like  these  cannot  be  forgotten — at  least  I  never 
could  forget  them. 

"Arthur,"  I  said,  '^ must  you  then  always  be  in  trouble 
and  distress  ?  Could  it  not  be  otherwise  if  you  chose  ?  A 
man  like  you,  with  so  much  talent,  so  much  tact,  such  en- 
gaging manners " 

"  And  such  a  father  ! "  cried  Arthur,  with  a  laugh  that 
went  to  my  heart.  "  Do  you  suppose  that  one  can  do  any- 
thing with  such  a  father,  who  compromises  me  every  moment 
— every  moment  places  me  in  the  pillory,  or  at  least  keeps 
me  in  perpetual  fear  that  he  will  do  it  ? " 

"  I  would  never  speak  thus  of  my  father,  Arthur,"  I  said. 

"  I  suppose  not,"  he  answered.  "  You  never  had  reason 
to  :  if  I  had  had  such  a  father  as  yours  I  would  be  a  differ- 
ent man.  But  my  father  !  Here  he  runs  from  this  man  to 
that,  and  begs  for  me  a  sort  of  position  in  our  legation  at 
London,  and  a  few  weeks  later  he  goes  round  to  the  very 
same  men  and  begs  for  himself;  and  the  result  is  that  they 
don't  want  in  the  London  legation  the  son  of  a  man  whom 
they  have  to  shut  their  door  upon  at  home  ;  and  if  I  had 
not  in  London  made  the  acquaintance  of  Prince  Prora,  who 
most  kindly  took  an  interest  in  me,  I  should  not  know  how 
to  pay  for  my  cup  of  coffee  to-morrow  morning." 

"  Arthur,"  I  said,  "  I  believe  you  need  the  money  more 
than  I  do.  Suppose  you  take  it  back  to  the  prince,  for  it 
comes  from  the  prince,  as  you  might  as  well  confess — and 
say  to  him  from  me  that  I  neither  need  it  nor  desire  it,  and 
request  that  it  may  be  given  to  you.  As  for  our  little  ac- 
count, that  we  can  settle  when  you  really  are  in  funds." 

"  You  dear  old  George  ! "  cried  Arthur,  springing  up  and 
seizing  my  hand.  "  You  are  the  same  dear  fellow  you  always 
were  ;  I  intended  it  for  you,  but  if  you  don't  need  it — ^"  and 
he  hastily  clutched  up  the  notes  which  he  had  so  carefully 
counted,  and  thrust  them  into  his  breast  pocket. 

"  Cannot  the  prince  open  some  definite  career  to  you  ?"  I 
asked. 

"  The  prince  !  "  he  replied.  "  Bah  !  you  remind  me  of 
the  game  the  young  girls  used  to  play  when  we  were  children — 
Emilie  Heckepfennig,  Elise  Kohl,  and  whatever  their  names 
were — the  game  of  the  meal-pile,  into  which  a  ring  was 
stuck,  and  each  one  of  the  girls  cut  away  in  turn  a  part  of 
20* 


466  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  pile,  and  then  more,  and  then  a  little  more,  until  down 
fell  the  meal-pile,  and  the  little  snub-noses  went  to  rooting 
in  it  for  the  ring.  That  is  the  very  image  of  the  man  :  every- 
day one  charming  hand  or  another  cuts  away  a  portion  of 
the  meal-pile  that  is  called  Prince  Karl  of  Prora-Wiek,  and 
before  long  down  the  pile  will  tumble  ;  it  leans  over  now,  I 
can  tell  you,"  and  Arthur  buttoned  up  his  overcoat,  and 
drew  on  again  his  right  glove,  which  he  had  pulled  off  to 
count  the  money. 

"  I  should  be  sorry  to  know  that,  if  I  were,  as  you  are,  a 
friend  of  the  young  man." 

"  Friend  ? "  said  he,  lighting  a  cigar  at  the  lamp. 
"  Friend  ?  pah !  I  am  as  little  his  friend  as  he  is  mine.  He 
needs  me,  because — well,  he  needs  me,  and  I  need  him  ;  and 
whoever  first  ceases  to  need  the  other  will  give  him  a  friendly 
kick ;  only  I  imagine  I  shall  need  him  longer  than  he  me,  or 
than  his  lungs  will  hold  out,  which  I  suspect  are  more  than 
half  gone  already." 

Arthur  had  put  on  his  hat,  and  as  he  stood  before  me,  and 
the  light  fell  upon  his  handsome,  pale,  smiling  face,  I  felt  a 
sharp  pang  of  sorrow  for  him,  which  he  probably  perceived 
in  my  looks,  for  he  began  to  laugh  heartily,  and  said  : 

"  What  a  doleful  face  you  are  making,  as  if  I  were  on  my 
way  direct  to  the  gallows,  and  not  to  the  Albert  Theatre  to 
see  the  fair  Bellini  who  makes  her  debut  to-night.  And  after- 
wards a  supper  at  Tavolini's  with  her,  if  we  can  manage  it. 
You  see  my  life  has  its  bright  sides,  for  all.  Good-by,  old 
raven  ! " 

And  he  nodded  familiarly  to  me,  and  lounged  out  of  the 
door,  which  he  forgot  to  close  behind  him. 

I  closed  it,  and  put  fresh  coals  on  the  half-extinguished 
fire,  trimmed  the  light,  and  sat  down  at  my  table,  and  said  ais 
I  ojjened  my  books :  "  It  is  very  singular  that  a  young  prince 
should  take  such  an  interest  in  a  poor  blacksmith.  Bah ! 
I  should  be  a  fool  to  let  such  people  move  me  from  my  path." 

But  though  I  strove  to  be  wise,  and  to  banish  from  my 
thoughts  the  folly  of  the  world,  it  kept  drawing  as  by  some 
magnetic  power  my  thoughts  away  from  the  dry  formulas  to 
bright  life,  of  which  I  had  caught,  as  it  were,  a  glimpse 
in  the  opening  and  closing  of  the  door.  Gay  enough  was 
the  scene ;  a  table  covered  with  half-emptied  bottles  and  the 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


467 


dainties  of  a  dessert,  and  around  the  table  a  half-dozen  jovial 
faces  ruddy  with  the  wine,  and  mine  among  them,  glowmg 
with  wine  and  pleasure  brighter  than  all  the  rest,  since  I  was 
so  much  stronger  than  they  that  I  could  have  drunk  them  all 
under  the  table,  and  I  sang  a  bacchanalian  song,  and  they  all 
clapped  and  stamped,  with  cries  of  Bravo  !  Encore.' 

1  passed  my  hand  across  my  brow.  What  insane  dream 
was  this  ?  What  had  the  solitary  workman  to  do  with  thmgs 
which  had  been  invented  only  for  rich  idlers  ?  Here  was  the 
work  to  which  I  had  devoted  myself;  it  was  a  jealous  mis- 
tress, and  I  could,  not  divide  my  affection  between  it  and  the 
fiiir  Bellini. 

I  sprang  up,  and  I  believe  I  struck  my  forehead  with  my 
clenched  fist  without  producing  any  perceptible  result. 
There  she  stood  in  my  imagination  just  as  she  looked  when, 
going  out  of  the  door,  she  turned  round  to  take  another  look 
at  the  picture — the  woman  who  so  resembled  Constance—the 
actress  who  made  her  first  appearance  to-night.  And  in  a 
box  close  to  the  stage  would  be  sitting  the  young  prince  with 
his  boon-companions,  staring  through  their  opera-glasses  at 
the  fair  Bellini,  while  I  sat  here  by  the  comfortless  light  of 
a  lamp,  in  a  chilly  room,  with  burning  head  and  freezing 
hands,  putting  down  upon  paper  long  rows  of  figures  which 
would  lead  to  no  result. 

I  do  not  know  by  what  steps  the  evil  thought  that  had 
arisen  in  my  soul  suddenly  mastered  my  will ;  I  only  know 
that  a  few  minutes  later  I  was  hastening  through  the  dark 
snow-covered  streets,  and  soon  arrived,  breathless,  at  the 
ticket-office  of  the  Albert  Theatre.  Every  place  was  taken 
the  box-keeper  assured  me,  but  in  the  lowest  proscenium-box 
on  the  right  there  was  a  standing-place. 

"  Give  me  that,  then." 

The  man  looked  at  me  with  surprise  ;  he  had  mentioned 
the  fact  as  a  mere  piece  of  information  without  the  slightest 
intention  of  offering  it  to  me,  whose  place  was  evidently  in  the 
pit  or  gallery.  He  looked  doubtfully  at  me ;  but  he  had 
shown  me  the  ticket  and  could  not  now  deny  it,  so  he  put 
the  best  face  on  it  he  could,  and  let  the  plebeian  pass  to  the 
aristocratic  box. 

The  box  was  entirely  full  with  the  exception  of  the  place 
I  had  taken,  which  was  in  the  furthest  corner,  on  the  side 


468 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


that  looked  toward  the  stage,  so  that  I  could  see  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  latter,  but  could  look  into  the  depth 
of  one  of  the  wings,  and  had  a  view  of  the  opposite  prosce- 
nium-box, and  of  so  much  of  the  audience  as  occupied  the 
extreme  places  in  the  various  tiers. 

When  I  took  possession  of  this  enviable  place  a  couple 
of  elegantly-curled  heads  looked  around  to  see  the  disturber, 
and  then  exchanged  remarks  of  a  nature  apparently  not 
flattering  to  me  ;  but  as  I  had  not  the  look  of  one  who  could 
be  unceremoniously  shown  the  door  they  left  me  unmolested, 
and  I  was  allowed  to  give  myself  up  to  that  delight  which  a 
feeling  heart  can  find  in  the  contemplation  of  an  empty  pro- 
scenium-box, and  a  side-scene  in  which  a  dozen  painted  ladies 
and  gentlemen  in  Spanish  costume  were  apparently  only 
waiting  the  prompter's  signal  to  step  upon  the  stage.  The 
signal  was  given.  The  Spanish  ladies  and  gentlemen  marched 
in  couples  out  of  the  wing,  and  I  observed  one  or  two  in 
the  extreme  foreground  taking  their  places  upon  chairs. 
Then  I  heard  a  tumult  upon  the  stage,  as  if  from  a  throng 
crowding  in,  and  the  chorus  broke  forth —  .     ~    = 

"  Hail,  Preciosa,  maiden  most  fair  ; 
Twine  ye  fresh  flowers  to  garland  her  hair !" 

During  this  chorus  castanets  clicked  and  tambourines  re- 
sounded :  there  was  applause  upon  the  stage,  all  crying 
"  Hail  to  Preciosa  !  "  and  as  if  the  crv  had  found  an  echo, 
the  whole  house,  from  pit  to  gallery,  burst  into  a  shout  of 
"  Brava  !  Brava  !"  and  I  saw  the  men  applauding  like  mad, 
and  the  ladies  straining  forward  to  see  better,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  their  rapture  would  have  no  end.  At  last  they  were 
quieted  a  little,  and  one  of  the  Spanish  gentlemen  upon  the 
chairs  in  the  foreground,  who  was  called — I  think,  Don  Fer- 
nando— said  to  another :  "  By  heaven,  a  lovely  girl !"  and  the 
other — Don  Francisco — answered:  "An  enchanting  little 
beauty,  indeed  !"  and  at  this  the  shouts  and  the  bravas  and 
the  applause  burst  forth  again,  as  if  the  house  were  coming 
down,  so  that  the  old  gypsy  mother  could  scarcely  make  her- 
self heard  when  she  asked  if  it  was  the  gentlemen's  plea- 
sure to  hear  a  song  from  her  grand-daughter  Preciosa. 

Don  Fernando  asked  for  "something  describing  the  hap- 
piness of  a  child  in  the  arms  of  its  loving  parents."     The 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  469 

voice  of  Don  Alonzo,  whom  I  could  not  see — a  voice  vibrat- 
ing as  if  with  passion — pronounced  it  "a  cruel  thought- 
lessness to  ask  an  orphan  to  sing  of  joys  which  heaven  had 
denied  her."  Don  Fernando  expressed  his  regret  that  he 
had  hit  upon  so  ill-chosen  a  theme ;  but  Don  Francisco  in- 
terrupted him  with  the  words  :  "  Hush,  she  is  about  to  sing ; 
she  begins — "     Then  a  momentary  pause,  and  then 

I  had  followed  all  these  preliminaries  with  an  intense  ex- 
pectation which  could  have  been  shared  by  none  in  the 
house.  I  knew  nothing  of  the  piece,  had  never  even  heard 
of  it,  that  I  know,  but  a  sort  of  instinct  revealed  to  me 
everything  that,  invisible  to  me,  was  going  on  upon  the  stage  ; 
and  I  knew  that  the  moment  had  now  come  in  which  she 
who  took  the  part  of  Preciosa  would  speak  for  the  first  time. 
But  a  few  seconds  elapsed  between  the  last  words  of  the  old 
Don  Francisco  and  the  first  words  of  Preciosa,  and  yet  they 
seemed  to  me  an  age.  A  wondrous  intuition  seized  me  that 
it  was  certainly  she,  and  my  heart  beat  wildly  at  the  thought, 
when  the  first  sound  of  her  voice  reached  my  ear,  and  my 
head  sank  against  the  side  of  the  box  as  I  involuntarily 
gasped,  "  It  is  she !  " 

The  ear  has  a  faithful  memory,  more  faithful  perhaps  than  / 
that  of  any  other  sense  ;  and  the  ear  it  was  that  had  drawn  " 
me  into  my  passion  for  Constance  von  Zehren  when  in  the 
evening  I  stood  at  the  open  window  and  listened  to  catch 
the  sound  of  her  voice  when  I  might  no  longer  see  her, 
though  it  were  but  a  word  to  her  old  servant.  And  some- 
times I  caught  the  notes  of  those  songs  which  her  deep,  rich 
voice  poured  forth  with  such  matchless  melody.  Yes  ;  it  was 
herself,  Constance  von  Zehren,  the  daughter  of  the  proudest 
of  the  proud,  the  kinswoman  of  Paula,  an  actress  here  upon 
the  stage  of  a  suburb-theatre  ! 

How  strangely  the  times  had  changed !  A  sadness  seized 
me,  and  I  could  have  wept ;  I  wished  to  be  away,  for  it 
seemed  to  me  a  crime  against  the  memory  of  my  unhappy 
friend  that  I  should  listen  here  to  what  would  have  been  so 
horrible  to  him  ;  but  I  could  not  go  ;  I  stood  as  if  spell- 
bound, my  head  leaned  against  the  partition,  without  motion 
and  almost  without  breathing  ;  I  stood  thus  during  Preciosa's 
improvisation,  and  scarcely  moved  when  the  curtain  fell  and 
the  storm  of  applause  broke  forth  more  furious  than  ever. 


470  Hafumcr  and  Anvil. 

There  was  a  movement  in  my  box.  A  young  lady,  who 
found  the  high  temperature  of  the  box  more  than  her  nerves 
could  endure,  had  fainted,  or  was  about  to  faint,  and  was 
conducted  out  by  two  elder  ladies,  followed  by  several  young 
gentlemen  of  the  party.  In  this  way  some  half-dozen  seats 
were  left  vacant,  which  were  at  once  taken  by  those  who  re- 
mained. And  thus  it  happened  that  when  the  curtain  again 
rose,  besides  the  left  wing  I  could  now  also  see  a  part  of 
the  gypsy  camp  under  the  Spanish  cork-trees,  and  one  or 
two  members  of  the  respectable  gypsy  family,  who  were  re- 
clining about  the  great  kettle  under  which  a  fire  was  flicker- 
ing. The  captain  and  Viarda  have  determined  to  go  to 
Valencia.  They  are  only  waiting  for  Preciosa,  who  is  wan- 
dering alone  in  the  woods.  The  g\'psies  scatter  in  various 
directions  ;  for  a  moment  the  stage  is  empty,  and  then  I 
saw  her  as  I  had  seen  her  before. 

As  I  had  seen  her  on  that  autumn  morning  under  the 
beeches  of  Zehrendorf,  through  whose  lightly- waving  branches 
the  golden  sunlight  fell  upon  her  ;  a  slender,  deep  brunette, 
in  a  strangely  fantastic  dress  of  green  veh-et  with  golden 
braidings,  her  beloved  guitar  by  her  side.  Just  as  she  was 
then — as  if  the  years  that  had  flown  had  left  no  trace  upon 
her,  nor  been  able  to  steal  one  of  the  dark  roses  from  her 
cheeks,  or  quench  the  lustre  of  her  radiant  eyes.  And  just 
as  then  my  heart  palpitated,  and  I  could  scarcely  breathe  as 
she  began  to  descend  the  rocks  under  the  lofty  trees  as  she 
before  came  down  the  mossy  bank  to  the  tarn  where  I  was 
standing,  and  sitting  upon  a  mossy  bank  at  the  foot  of  the 
rocks,  and  raising  her  voice — that  soft  rich  voice  of  which  my 
heart  remembered  every  tone — she  sang  : 

"  Lone  I  am,  but  am  not  lonely  ; 

When  the  moonbeams  round  me  glide, 
One  loved  presence  hovers  near  me, 

One  dear  form  is  at  my  side."  (  ' 

Just  so  I  had  heard  her  voice  in  those  balmy  moonlight 
nights,  floating  to  me  from  the  glimmering  park,  and  the 
memory  of  those  happy  days  completely  overcame  me.  My 
throat  seemed  compressed,  my  heart  beat  violently,  hot  tears 
burst  from  my  eyes  and  hid  her  and  everything  from  my 
sight.  .  . 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  47 1 

The  thunder  of  applause  with  which  the  public  greeted 
the  close  of  the  romanza  recalled  me  to  myself.  I  saw  that 
she  bowed,  and  prepared  to  obey  their  repeated  calls  ;  I  saw 
the  leader  raise  his  baton,  and  heard  the  first  notes  of  the 
charming  melody, 

"  Lone  I  am,  but  am  not  lonely " 

when  suddenly  a  tumult  occurred  in  the  theatre.  All  eyes 
were  turned  upon  the  lower  proscenium-box  on  the  left, 
directly  opposite  to  me,  into  which  at  this  moment  a  party  of 
young  gentlemen,  elegantly  dressed,  and  with  heated  faces, 
as  if  they  had  just  been  dining,  entered  noisily,  and  seated 
themselves  upon  the  t\\'0  front  rows  of  chairs.  In  the  left- 
hand  corner  a  young  man  took  his  place,  who  seemed,  by  the 
attentions  the  rest  paid  him,  to  be  the  most  distinguished 
among  them.  His  right  hand,  in  a  yellow  glove,  hung  indo- 
lently over  the  front  of  the  box,  and  his  face  was  turned  to 
one  of  his  companions.  The  threatening  hisses  of  the  audi- 
ence did  not  disturb  him  as  he  conversed  half  aloud,  and  he 
only  turned  his  head  when  the  singer  suddenly  paused.  At 
this  moment  I  recognized  Prince  Prora,  and  plainly  saw  him 
change  color  as  he  caught  sight  of  Preciosa.  She  had 
recognized  him  at  the  first  glance,  and  the  blood  forsook  her 
cheeks  and  her  voice  failed  her.  Suddenly  she  arose  from 
her  seat,  as  if  intending  to  hasten  off  the  stage  ;  then  stopped, 
as  if  about  to  faint,  and  pressed  her  hand  upon  her  heart. 
The  audience  imagined  that  their  favorite — for  this  the  beau- 
tiful girl  had  at  once  become — was  so  deeply  hurt  by  the  rude 
behavior  of  these  aristocratic  young  gentlemen  that  she 
could  not  sing,  and  they  began  to  hiss  more  loudly — to  cry 
"  Silence  !  "  and  even  "  Turn  out  the  aristocrats  !  turn  out 
the  yellow  gloves  !  " 

The  young  prince  looked  around  with  the  expression  of 
one  whom  the  matter  did  not  concern  in  the  least,  but  his 
companions  felt  called  upon  to  do  more :  they  laughed 
loudly,  bowed  with  ironical  politeness,  and  openly  scorned 
the  audience,  who  now  seemed  disposed  to  carry  their  threats 
into  execution.  Several  Hotspurs  were  clambering  over  the 
backs  of  the  seats  towards  the  box,  when  suddenly  the 
singer,  who  had  been  standing  with  her  eyes  riveted  upon  it, 
gave  a  cry,  dropped  her  guitar,  and  would  have  fallen  had 


472  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

not  Don  Fernando,  in  whom  I  recognized  her  companion  at 
the  exhibition,  rushed  out  of  the  wing  and  caught  her  in  his 
arms.  At  the  same  moment  the  curtain  fell.  I  hastened 
out  of  the  box,  not  knowing  what  I  was  doing  nor  where  I 
was  going,  and  only  recovered  myself  when  the  icy-cold  air 
of  the  winter  night  blew  in  my  burning  face. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

I  DO  not  know  how  many  hours  I  passed  in  wandering 
thus  through  the  streets  :  I  have  only  a  dim  remem- 
brance of  great  blocks  of  houses  rising  dark  into  the 
gray  of  the  night ;  of  flakes  of  snow  fluttering  down  from 
this  gray  into  the  yellow  light ;  of  vehicles  rolling  past  me 
almost  without  sound,  over  the  fresh-fallen  snow ;  and  figures 
that  glided  by  me  with  heads  down,  sheltering  themselves  as 
they  best  could  from  the  snow-storm. 

There  were  not  many  of  these  latter,  for  every  one  sought 
a  shelter  from  the  bad  weather.  Those  who  were  out  in  it 
were  those  who  had  no  choice,  such  as  the  unhappy  crea- 
tures who  with  pale  lips  murmured  to  the  passers-by  words 
intended  to  sound  warm  and  inviting. 

One  of  these  unfortunates  I  thought  I  saw  before  me,  as 
wandering  through  a  wide  street  in  the  most  distinguished 
quarter  I  reached  one  of  the  small  palaces,  before  the  door 
of  which  just  then  drove  up  at  a  sharp  trot  a  carriage 
drawn  by  two  fiery  horses,  and  throwing  around  a  bright 
light  from  both  its  lamps.  In  the  light  of  these  lamps  stood 
the  girl,  crouching  close  to  the  wall,  and  I  saw  that  at  the 
moment  when  the  equerry  sprang  from  the  box  and  helped 
his  master  out  of  the  carriage  she  advanced  a  step  and 
extended  her  arm  from  her  cloak,  as  if  she  wished  to  stop 
the  latter  as  he  descended.  But  he  had  pulled  the  fur  col- 
lar of  his  cloak  up  around  his  face,  and  as  he  rapidly  hurried 
up  the  steps  did  not  see  the  girl.  The  door,  which  had 
given  a  sight  of  a  brilliantly-lighted  hall,  closed  behind  mas- 
ter and  servant ;  the  coachman  touched  his  spirited  animals 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


473 


lightly  with  the  whip,  the  carriage  rolled  away  and  vanished 
into  the  open  gate  of  an  adjoining  building. 

No  one  remained  without  but  myself,  the  poor  girl,  and 
the  snow-flakes  still  fluttering  down  from  the  darkness  into 
the  yellow  light  of  the  lamps.  The  girl  came  towards  me 
and  passed  me  by.  It  was  plain  that  she  did  not  see  me, 
but  I  saw  her  as  the  light  of  one  of  the  lamps  struck  upon 
a  face  distorted  by  mental  anguish. 

"  Constance !  "  I  exclaimed. 

She  suddenly  stopped  and  stared  at  me  with  her  glowing 
black  eyes. 

"  Constance  !  "  I  repeated,  "  do  you  not  know  me  ?  It  is 
I— George " 

"  My  dragon-slayer,  who  was  to  kill  all  the  dragons  in  my 
path  !  Why  have  you  not  killed  that  one — that  one  !  "  and 
she  laughed  a  frightful  laugh,  and  pointed  to  the  door  which 
had  closed  on  Prince  Prora. 

Her  cloak  was  loose  and  fluttering  in  the  icy  wind,  and  I 
saw  she  was  still  in  the  costume  of  Preciosa.  She  must  have 
rushed  off  the  stage  into  the  street.  The  snow-flakes  were 
driving  into  her  fevered  face. 

"  Poor  Constance  !  "  I  murmured,  and  wrapped  the  cloak 
closer  around  her  shoulders,  drew  her  arm  in  mine,  anxious 
first  of  all  to  lead  her  from  this  place.  She  willingly  fol- 
lowed me,  and  we  walked  thus  through  the  long,  wind-swept 
streets,  I  looking  down  from  time  to  time  at  the  poor  girl, 
who  clung  even  closer  to  me,  and  asking  her  in  a  compas- 
sionate tone  how  she  was,  and  whither  I  should  take  her. 

I  had  several  times  i-epeated  these  questions  without  re- 
ceiving an  answer,  when  she  suddenly  stopped,  and  mur- 
mured with  pale  lips — "  I  can  go  no  further !  "  It  seemed 
to  me  that  she  was  on  the  point  of  fainting.  I  was  in  the 
greatest  embarrassment.  There  was  not  a  public  convey- 
ance to  be  seen  anywhere  in  the  street,  and  in  our  objectless 
flight  we  had  wandered  far  from'  the  fashionable  quarter 
where,  upon  my  repeated  inquiries,  she  informed  me  that 
she  lodged.  But  it  so  happened,  I  know  not  how,  that  we 
had  strayed  into  the  neighborhood  of  my  own  lodging,  and 
I  thought  it  the  best,  indeed  the  only  thing  I  could  do,  to 
take  her  there.  "  You  can  at  least  remain  there  long  enough 
to  warm  yourself,  while  I  get  a  carriage  to  take  you  home." 


474  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Without  answering  a  word  she  followed  me.  I  had  the  key 
of  the  outer  door,  so  that  I  did  not  need  to  disturb  the  old 
watchman  ;  and  his  dog,  that  came  growling  up  to  us,  as  soon 
as  he  recognized  me,  leaped  about  me,  wagging  his  tail. 

I  congratulated  myself  that  I  had  hit  upon  this  expedient, 
for  Constance  hung  heavily  upon  my  arm,  and  I  had  almost 
to  carry  her  across  the  yard  and  up  the  steps  to  my  room. 
And  when  we  had  reached  the  room,  and  by  the  dim  light 
of  the  fire  I  had  led  her  to  the  arm-chair,  and  lighted  my 
lamp,  I  saw  that  her  eyes  were  vacant  of  expression  and  half- 
closed,  while  a  deep  pallor  overspread  her  whole  face. 

My  confusion  in  a  situation  so  new  for  me  was  less  than  I 
should  have  supposed.  I  had  no  other  thought  than  as 
promptly  as  possible  to  assist  one  who  was  in  such  urgent 
need  of  assistance.  I  stirred  the  fire  until  it  blazed  brightly  ; 
I  took  off  her  cloak,  now  saturated  with  the  melted  snow, 
and  wrapped  her  in  a  plaid  ;  I  folded  a  coverlid  around  her 
feet,  and  warmed  her  cold  hands  in  my  own.  Then  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  probably  a  cup  of  tea,  which  I  could  pre- 
pare in  a  moment,  would  be  of  service  ;  so  I  got  out  the  tea- 
things  from  my  cupboard,  boiled  the  water  in  a  tin  kettle  over 
my  fire,  and  poured  her  out  a  cup  of  the  refreshing  beverage, 
not  forgetting  first  to  add  a  little  good  cognac.  She  drank 
it  eagerly  ;  I  offered  her  a  second  cup,  which  she  also  drank. 

The  warm  drink  seemed  to  have  greatly  revived  her :  she 
looked  at  the  pictures  on  the  walls,  at  the  furniture,  and  last 
at  me,  and  said,  reaching  out  to  me  her  small  hand,  in  which 
the  warm  life  began  to  pulsate  again,  "  How  good  you  are  ! 
how  good  !  You  are  the  best  creature  I  have  ever  known. 
How  much  happier  might  my  life  have  been  had  you  come  to 
our  house  a  i^vi  months  earlier  :  you  good,  good  George !  " 

It  was  again  the  Constance  of  those  old  times :  the  same 
fascinating  prattle  in  the  same  soft  melodious  voice  :  and  I, 
who  knew  so  well  what  confidence  to  place  in  all  this  kind- 
ness and  gentleness,  stood  like  the  great  oaf  that  I  was,  my 
whole  soul  thrilled  by  the  sweet,  unforgotten  tones,  and 
trembling  from  head  to  foot  at  the  touch  of  her  soft  hand. 
But  my  reason  made  an  effort  to  obtain  the  supremacy  once 
for  all.  I  drew  my  hand  from  hers,  stepped  back  to  the  fire- 
place, and  said,  while  with  great  apparent  calmness  1  was 
warming  my  hands  behind  my  back  :  ,    i 


tJammer  and  Anvil. 


475 


"  You  are  very  kind  ;  but  your  kindness  must  not  make 
me  forget  that  I  have  undertaken  to  see  you  safely  home. 
If  you  are  so  disposed,  and  feel  sufficiently  recovered,  I  will 
now  go  for  a  carriage." 

"You  are  still  angry  with  me,"  she  said,  leaning  back  in' 
the  chair  and  looking  up  to  me  under  her  long  lashes. 
"  Why  are  you  angry  ?  What  have  I  done  to  you  ?  What 
have  I  done  that  another  in  my  place  would  not  have  done  ? 
For  my  love  I  gave  reputation,  home,  myself:  was  I  to  bear 
so  tender  a  solicitude  for  the  feelings  of  a  youth,  who 
scarcely  knew  himself  what  those  feelings  were?  Did  you 
love  me?  Did  you  ever  love  me?"  she  repeated,  springing 
up  and  looking  into  my  eyes.  "  You  never  loved  me.  You 
could  not  else  stand  so  calmly  there,  and  you  are  not  worth 
the  regret  it  cost  me  to  play  off  that  little  deception  on  you. 
Do  you  know  that  I  was  so  childish  as  never  entirely  to  get 
over  it  ?  That  your  friendly  face  with  its  honest  eyes  looked 
continually  in  upon  my  dreams,  and  drew  from  me  tears  of  re- 
morse ?    You,  of  all  men,  have  least  right  to  be  angry  with  me. " 

And  she  threw  herself  back  in  the  chair,  and  defiantly 
folded  her  arms  over  her  breast. 

"  Who  said  that  I  was  angry  with  you  ? "  I  replied. 

"You  must  be  angry,"  she  returned  with  a  sort  of  vio- 
lence. "  I  will  have  you  angry :  should  I  wish  you  to 
despise  me  ?  There  is  no  third  case  possible.  The  third 
would  be  indifference  ;  and  I  am  not  indifferent  to  you,  am 
I,  George  ?  Not  indifferent,  though  you  are  now  making  an 
amazing  effort  to  appear  so.  When  two  p«rsons  have  once 
stood  as  near  to  each  other  as  we  two,  and  are  connected  by 
such  recollections  as  ours,  thev  can  never  entireiv  lose  each 
other  in  the  desert  of  indifference.  Do  you  know  that  some 
weeks  ago,  when  I  saw  a  likeness  of  you  in  the  exhibition, 
I  was  startled  as  if  I  had  seen  a  ghost,  and  could  not  bring 
myself  away  from  it,  and  afterwards  I  returned  to  it  again 
and  again,  and  wept  many  tears  at  the  thought  of  vou  ? 
Then  I  saw  by  the  catalogue  that  it  was  painted  by  my 
cousin,  and  I  made  a  pair  of  you  both,  a  happy  pair,  and 
blessed  you  in  my  inmost  heart.  Now  indeed  I  see  that  it 
is  otherwise.  What  are  you  ?  What  are  you  doing  !  How 
did  you  come  to  this  strange  place  ? "  and  she  looked  again . 
around  the  room. 


476  Hammer  and  Amnl. 

"  I  am  a  simple  workman,"  I  answered  ;  "  a  blacksmith  in  a 
neighboring  machine-shop." 

"  Blacksmith  ! — machine-shop  ! — what  do  you  say  ?  Who 
would  have  said  this  that  afternoon  when  I  saw  you  setting 
out  for  the  hunt  with  the  others,  in  high  hunting-boots  and 
a  short  velvet  coat,  with  your  gun  and  game-pouch,  so  tali 
and  stately,  the  tallest  and  stateliest  of  all !  What  would 
my  father  have  said  ?  You  always  sided  with  him — perhaps 
you  do  so  still ;  but  believe  me,  he  did  not  deal  well  with  me ; 
and  if  I  am  to  blame,  and  am  an  outcast  and  accursed,  it  all, 
all  falls  upon  his  head.  Do  you  know  that  the  old  Prince 
Prora,  when  my  father  grew  indignant  at  his  refusal,  flung 
in  his  face  the  taunt :  '  My  son  cannot  marry  your  bastard, 
nor  can  I  fight  with  a  smuggler  !'  My  father  sprang  at  him 
and  would  have  strangled  him — as  if  that  could  restore  his 
honor  or  mine  !  And  you  see,  George,  of  all  this  I  knew 
nothing :  I  first  learned  it  from  Kar — from  him  when  he 
proposed  to  abandon  me  in  a  foreign  country.  Can  a  man 
know  what  it  is  to  a  girl,  when  she  has  loved  a  man,  be  he 
worthy  or  unworthy — given  herself  to  him  wholly,  staked  her 
all  upon  him,  like  a  desperate  gamester  upon  a  single  card 
— to  be  thrust  out  by  him  into  wretchedness,  with  mockery 
and  shame  ?  Not  into  common  wretchedness,  such  as  seeks 
a  subsistence  by  the  light  of  a  poor  working-lamp,  or  in  the 
glare  of  the  street-lanterns — I  was  always  surrounded  by 
splendor  and  luxury,  and  the  Marchese  of  Serra  di  Falco 
was  as  much  richer  than  he  as  sunny  Sicily  is  fairer  than  our 
foggy  native  island.  And  j^et  it  was  wretchedness — bound- 
less, glittering  wretchedness — which  no  woman  escapes  who 
is  deceived  in  her  love,  whatever  the  compensation  that  may 
be  offered  her.  I  tried  hate  ;  but  hate  is  the  twin  brother  of 
love,  and  they  can  not  deny  their  common  parentage.  There 
is  but  one  remedy  for  love,  and  that  is  revenge.  Avenge  me 
on  him  !  You  can  do  it ;  you  are  so  strong ;  you  have  al- 
ready once  had  him  in  your  power — that  night  when  you  met 
him  in  the  wood?.  He  told  me  about  it  and  asked  who  the 
giant  was.  Why  did  you  let  him  escape.-*  Why  did  you  not 
strangle  him — brain  him  ? — and  then  come  to  me  and  say,  *  I 
am  your  lover,  for  I  am  stronger  than  the  other,'  and  take 
me  in  your  arms  and  carry  me  off?  But  you  men  never 
show  us  that  you  are  men,  and  you  wonder  then  that  we  play 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


477 


with  you  I     As  if  we  could  do  anything  else  with  a  creature 
that  we  do  not  see  to  be  stronger  than  ourselves,  and  often 
so  much  weaker  !     Show  what  you  can  be — what  you  are ! 
Crush  the  head  of  this  serpent,  and  I  will  fall  at  your  feet/ 
and  worship  you !" 

While  thus  speaking  she  had  let  fall  the  plaid  in  which  I 
had  wrapped  her  and  had  risen  from  the  chair,  and  with  her 
last  words  she  sank"  upon  her  knees,  holding  out  her  arms  to 
me.  The  flickering  light  of  the  fire  played  upon  her  fantas- 
tic gypsy  dress,  gleamed  upon  her  dark  hair  which  hung  in 
dishevelled  locks  over  her  cheeks  and  shoulders,  and  glowed 
upon  the  face  which  had  so  fatal  a  beauty  for  me.  The  name- 
less charm  with  which  she  had  at  first  fascinated  me  over- 
came me  with  all  the  old  might :  my  heart  beat  as  if  it 
would  burst  from  my  bosom,  and  feverish  shudders  ran  over 
my  whole  body,  but  with  a  vehement  effort  I  collected  my- 
self, stretched  out  my  ice-cold  hand  and  raised  her,  and  said  : 

"  You  apply  to  the  wrong  person.  Entrust  your  vengeance 
upon  the  prince  to  one  who  has  a  nearer  interest  in  it :  to 
the  young  man,  for  instance,  upon  whose  arm  you  were  lean- 
ing when  I  saw  you  in  the  gallery,  and  who,  this  very  even- 
ing, if  I  am  not  mistaken,  was  the  personage  in  the  play 
whom  Preciosa  made  happy  with  her  favor." 

Constance  had  risen  slowly,  her  eyes  ever  fixed  upon  mine, 
and  began  to  pace  the  room  with  hasty  steps,  pausing  at  in- 
tervals before  me,  and  speaking  as  she  walked  : 

"  How  base  you  men  are ;  how  horribly  base  and  unfeel-  \ 
ing  !  Was  it  for  this  reason — to  heap  these  cruel  reproaches  - 
upon  me — that  you  enticed  me  here  ?  Is  this  your  hospitali- 
ty ?  Do  you  think  your  fire  has  warmed  me  too  much,  that 
you  now  drench  me  with  ice- water  ?  But  your  heart  is  so 
cold  only  because  your  brain  is  so  dull ;  because,  for  instance, 
you  cannot  comprehend  how  a  woman  who,  from  childhood 
up,  has  been  lapped  in  visions  of  future  splendor,  and  has 
seen  her  life's  dream  almost  realized,  when  this  dream  at 
once  scatters  like  light  mist,  and  she,  with  her  high-wrought 
feelings  and  pampered  taste,  with  her  cherished  pretensions 
to  beauty  and  luxury,  is  about  to  be  given  over  to  a  coarse, 
commonplace  existence — that  such  a  woman  of  necessit}' 
must  catch  at  the  wretched  reflection  of  the  brilliant  reality 
that  is  irrecoverably  gone ;  that  the  beloved  of  princes  can 


478  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

afterwards  be  nothing  else  than  a  stage  princess.  And  not 
even  this  pitiful  reflection  does  he  leave  me  undisturbed ! 
Again  he  forces  himself  upon  me,  and  embitters  my  poor  tri- 
umph. But  why  do  I  speak  of  all  this  to  a  man  who  under- 
stands it  not,  and  can  never  understand  it — who  has  chosen 
the  happy  lot  of  a  modest  existence  full  of  labor,  and  toil, 
and  quiet  sleep  ?  " 

I  had  thrown  myself  into  the  chair  from  which  she  had 
arisen,  and  she  stood  before  me,  and  went  on  in  a  strange, 
soft,  trembling  voice  : 

"  If  I  could  only  sleep  !  ,  If  I  could  only  sleep  !  Could  I 
but  drink  from  the  fountain  that  daily  flows  for  you,  and  will 
flow  for  that  happy  woman  whom  some  day  you  will  bring  to 
this  peaceful  hearth !  Could  I  banish  the  fever  that  here 
burns  me,  and  here  allows  me  no  rest " — she  pointed  with 
these  words  to  her  breast  and  her  head — "  no  rest — none  ! 
Oh  to  sleep  thus,  amid  the  perfumes  of  rosemary  and  violets 
— a  sweet  sleep  upon  a  strong,  true  heart !  " 

And  as  I  sat  with  bowed  head,  and  heart  filled  with  pain, 
I  felt  a  pair  of  soft  arms  wind  about  my  neck,  a  swelling 
bosom  pressed  to  mine,  and  a  pair  of  glowing  lips  that 
sought  my  own.  Had  the  dream  which  the  enamored,  pas- 
sionate boy  had  dreamed  become  reality,  or  was  I  really 
dreaming  ?  And  was.  it  only  as  one  who  strives  to  arouse 
himself  from  a  dream  that  I  pressed  her  to  me,  then  sprang 
to  my  feet  and  let  her  glide  from  my  arms,  and  again  caught 
her  to  my  heart  ? 

The  light  which  had  been  burning  dimly  now  sank  into 
the  socket  and  expired,  but  in  the  flickering  glimmer  of  the 
fire  I  saw  the  outlines  of  the  lovely  form  that  clung  and 
pressed  down  to  my  breast,  and  as  if  in  a  dream  I  heard  a 
voice  murmur  at  my  ear  :  "to  sleep  sweetly  upon  a  strong, 
\  true  heart !  " 


CHAPTER    VII. 

ARE  you  sick,  my  dear  George  ? "  said  Doctor  Snellius, 
entering  my  room  one  evening. 

I  had  not  seen  the  doctor  since  we  last  parted  so 
unpleasantly,  and  the  visit  of  the  man  with  the  keen  specta- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  479 

cles  and  the  keen  eyes  behind  them  was  doubly  disagreeable 
to  one  who  wished  to  avoid  the  gaze  of  every  one.  He 
must  have  noticed  my  embarrassment,  for  the  tone  of  his 
voice  was  unusually  soft  and  gentle  when  he  spoke  again, 
after  taking  his  place  by  the  fire. 

"  I  knew  it  from  Klaus  Pinnow,  who  perceived  that  some- 
thing was  amiss  with  you,  and  from  Paula,  who  has  per- 
ceived nothing  because  you  have  not  been  near  her,  and  who 
sends  me  to  you  for  this  reason.  What  is  it,  my  friend  ? 
Your  hand  is  hot,  you  look  wretchedly,  and  you  have  decided 
fever.     What  is  amiss  .''  " 

"  I  feel  quite  well,"  I  answered — drawing  my  large  hand 
out  of  the  doctor's,  which  was  small  and  delicate  as  a 
woman's,  and  with  it  screening  my  brow  and  eyes  from  the 
sharp  spectacles — "  perfectly  well." 

You  must  then  have  some  mental  trouble,  some  great  dis- 
tress, which  affects  natures  like  yours  more  powerfully  than 
severe  sickness  does  others.     Is  it  so  ?  " 

"  You  may  be  right  there,"  I  answered. 

"  And  can  you  not  tell  me  what  it  is  t  "  asked  the  doctor, 
drawing  nearer  to  me,  and  laying  his  small  hand  upon  my 
other  hand  which  rested  on  my  knee. 

"  It  is  not  worth  talking  about,"  I  answered.  "  A  curious 
story — something  like  one  which  I  have  read  somewhere  or 
other — about  a  young  man  who  loved  a  beautiful  woman  who 
was  a  witch,  and  one  night  as  he  stretched  out  his  hand  to 
take  hers  she  had  vanished — out  of  the  chimney — to  the 
Blocksberg — ^to  the  devil,  I  suppose  !" 

And  I  sprang  up,  paced  the  room  for  a  few  minutes  in 
great  agitation,  and  then  threw  myself  again  into  my  chair. 

"The  story  is  rather  too  mystical  to  build  a  diagnosis 
upon,"  the  doctor  remarked,  in  a  kind  voice,  drawing  still 
nearer,  and,  as  he  could  not  take  my  hand,  laying  his  own 
familiarly  upon  my  knee. 

"  Then  listen  to  this  :  A  youth  of  nineteen  loved  a  beau- 
tiful girl  of  about  the  same  age — Gloved  her  passionately,  as 
one  loves  at  those  years,  especially,  when  solitude  and 
romantic  associations  heighten  the  charm.  He  was  decieved 
by  the  girl,  and  finally  shamefully  betrayed  ;  and  yet  he 
never  could  forget  her,  and  in  the  eight  or  nine  years  that 
follows    his  heart  palpitated  in  his  breast  whenever  he 


480  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

thought  of  her.  And  then  an  accident  brought  her  to  him 
again — just  as  he  had  expected  to  find  her — a  lost  girl,  who 
had  been  the  mistress  of  I  know  not  how  many  men.  He 
cannot  doubt  it — indeed  she  tells  him  so  herself — and  yet 
while  she  tells  him  his  heart  throbs  violently,  and  in  his  soul 
he  longs  to  join  the  long  train  of  his  predecessors.  And 
when  she  opens  her  arms  he  hastened  to  sink  upon  her 
breast  in  which  there  beats  no  heart.  He  plainly  feels  that 
no  heart  beats  there  ;  but  a  childish,  an  insane  pity  seizes 
him :  he  will  warm  this  chilled  heart  again  with  the  glow  of 
his  burning  kisses,  with  his  own  heart's  blood.  And  the 
phantom  drinks  his  neart's  blood — one,  two,  three  nights  ; 
and  when  he  wakes  in  the  third,  she  has  vanished  as  witches 
vanish,  and  the  next  night  he  sees  her  at  the  theatre  coquet- 
ting with  a  young  dandy,  who  drives  home  with  her,  while 
outside " 

"  Stands  the  poor  man,  and  beats  his  head  with  his  fist,  and 
tears  out  his  hair  by  handfuls;  we  know  all  about  that  '."said 
Doctor  Snellius,  and  softly  patted  my  knee.  "  We  know  all 
about  that,"  he  repeated,  touching  me  still  more  softly  j  "  it 
is  painful ;  but  when  a  jaw-tooth  with  three  long  roots  is 
pulled  out,  that  is  painful  too,  and  so  is  the  setting  a  broken 
arm.  And  I  think  the  poor  man  whom  I  have  just  left  is 
not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  be  envied.  It  is  a  poor  workman 
in  your  establishment ;  you  doubtless  know  him ;  his  name 
is  Jacob  Kraft,  and  he  works,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  in  your 
shop.  Well,  his  wife,  a  dear  good  woman,  whom  the  young 
fellow  had  courted  for  many  a  long  day,  nine  days  ago  bore 
a  dead  child,  and  now  she  lies  dead  herself,  and  by  her  bed- 
side kneels  poor  Jacob  and  wishes  that  he  had  never  been 
born.  I  do  not  think  the  poor  fellow's  feelings  are  to  be 
envied.  And  young  Frau  Miiller  is  not  particularly  happy 
either.  Her  husband  left  home  this  morning,  well  and 
cheerful,  to  go  to  his  work  on  the  new  tramway,  had  his 
breast  crushed  in  between  two  wagons,  and  will  die  to-night. 
Besides,  my  friend,  we  must  all  die,  and  '  after  nine  it  will  all 
be  over,'  as  the  manager  of  the  theatre  said  when  the  pit 
hissed." 

"  Dying  is  not  so  much,"  I  said  ;  "  I  have  more  than  once 
in  my  life  wished  to  die,  and  thought  it  rather  a  greater  thing 
that  I  did  not,  but  kept  on  living  this  cursed  life." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  481 

"  And  you  did  right,  my  friend,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  I  am  not  sure,"  I  replied,  "if  those  Romans  of  whom  I 
heard  at  school  did  not  act  both  nobler  and  wiselier  when 
they  fell  upon  their  swords  so  soon  as  the  game  was  lost." 

"  Every  one  to  his  taste,"  said  the  doctor.  "  When  a 
horse  breaks  his  leg  we  shoot  him  ;  but  with  a  man,  we  set  it 
again  ;  or,  if  it  cannot  be  saved,  cut  it  off  and  buckle  on  a 
leg  of  wood  or  cork,  with  which  he  hobbles  on  the  remainder 
of  his  earthly  pilgrimage.  You  have  no  idea,  my  friend,  how 
little  is  really  necessary  to  life  :  hardly  more  than  head  and 
heart.  Yes,  scarcely  even  that.  You  have,  no  doubt,  your- 
self observed  how  many  a  man  goes  through  life  without  a 
head ;  and  that  one  can  live  with  half  a  heart,  or  a  quarter, 
I  can  testify  from  personal  experience." 

The  doctor  said  this  in  a  low,  dejected  tone  of  voice,  as  if 
talking  to  himself  And  he  went  on  still,  as  if  talking  to 
himself,  softly  stroking  my  knee,  and   looking  into  the  fire. 

"  Yes  !  with  half  a  heart.  It  is  not  very  easy  or  very  pleas- 
ant living  ;  one  sometimes  feels  as  if  the  breast  would  be 
crushed,  or  as  if  we  must  lie  down  just  where  we  happen  to 
be,  and  never  rise  up  again.  But  we  do  get  up  again,  and 
do  some  good,  if  not  to  ourselves  to  another  whose  shoe 
pinches  him  somewhere,  and  whom  with  our  experience  and 
our  cobbler's  skill  we  may  possibly  help.  For,  my  friend, 
there  are  very  few  who  are  able  to  pull  off  their  shoes,  which 
in  truth  is  not  merely  the  best  but  the  only  way  to  be  rid  of 
all  pain.  So  these  people  must  be  helped  ;  and  my  life  for 
many  years  has  been  but  a  pondering  and  study  how  this 
may  be  done  on  a  large  scale  ;  for  in  a  smaller  sphere,  as  far 
as  very  limited  private  means  can  reach,  I  very  well  know 
what  is  to  be  done,  and  do  all  I  can.  Au  revoir,  my  dear 
George :  I  still  have  a  pair  of  old  shoes  to  patch  and  a  com 
or  two  to  trim." 

Doctor  Snellius  gave  me  a  friendly  slap  on  the  knee, 
clapped  his  worn  hat  on  his  bald  head,  turned  in  the  door 
to  give  me  an  amicable  nod,  and  left  me  alone. 

A  man  not  naturally  ignoble  is  perhaps  never  more  dis- 
posed or  better  fitted  to  sympathize  in  other's  misfortunes 
than  when  he  himself  has  a,  heavy  sorrow.  Thus  the  horrible 
treachery  which  Constance  had  practiced  upon  me  opened 
my  eyes  and  my  heart  to  the  doctor's  trouble.     That  the 

21 


482  Ha77imcr  and  Anvil. 

singular  man  loved  Paula  I  had  never  doubted  ;  but  as  he 
always  draped  his  love  in  a  humorous  cloak,  I,  in  my  sim- 
plicity, had  never  seen  how  strong  and  deep  this  love  was. 
It  seemed  to  me  so  evident  that  this  dwarfish  figure,  with  the 
misshapen  bald  head  and  the  grotesquely  ugly  face,  could 
never  be  loved  by  a  beautifial  slender  maiden,  as  one  looks 
upon  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  a  man  who  goes  on  crutches 
cannot  dance  upon  the  tight-rope.  Now  for  the  first  time  I 
saw  what  this  man  must  have  suffered  through  all  these  years 
— the  man  who,  not  without  reason,  and  assuredly  not  with- 
out a  reference  to  himself,  said  that  a  man  to  live  scarcely 
required  more  than  a  head  and  a  heart.  And  then  I  com- 
pared him,  the  stoical  sufferer,  with  myself,  and  asked  my- 
self if  he,  the  pure,  the  good,  the  noble,  did  not  better  deserve 
Paula's  love  than  I,  for  this  good  fortune  had  always 
seemed  to  me  a  kind  of  miracle,  of  which  I  had  ever  felt 
myself  unworthy,  but  never  so  unworthy  as  now. 

Perhaps  more  than  one  youth  of  eighteen,  who  may  read 
these  lines,  will  smile  compassionately,  in  the  consciousness 
of  his  maturer  experience,  at  the  man  of  twenty-eight,  who 
took  such  a  trifle  so  deeply  to  heart.  But  he  should  consider 
that  I  had  grown  up  among  the  simplest  associations,  had 
been  eight  years  in  prison,  and  now  since  I  had  lived  in  the 
city  had  employed  all  my  time  in  carrying  out  my  determi- 
nation to  be  a  good  machinist.  How  could  I  have  accumu- 
lated the  experience  of  my  wise  censor  ?  How  could  I  know 
that  love-troubles  of  this  kind  are  to  a  man  of  the  world 
what  scars  are  to  a  brigand — not  only  honorable  in  his  own 
eyes  and  those  of  his  companions,  but  also  in  the  eyes  of 
the  fair  whose  grace  and  favor  he  counts  upon  winning  ?  I 
was  but  a  great  boy  with  all  my  twenty-eight  years  ;  I  con- 
fess it  with  contrition,  and  beg  my  wise  friend  of  eighteen  to 
.  have  patience  with  me. 

Perhaps  he  will  find  this  a  difficult  task,  when  he  learns 
that  I  carried  my  folly  so  far  as  to  feel  convinced  that  I  had 
given  myself  to  the  fair  sinner,  body  and  soul,  forever,  and 
that  it  was  my  duty  henceforth  to  live  for  her ;  to  save  her 
if  I  could,  to  perish  with  her  if  I  must ;  and  that  I  felt  my- 
self nowise  released  from  this  obligation  and  free  once  more, 
when  she  wrote  me  a  delicate  little  perfumed  billet,  saying 
that  I  was  still-  as  ever  her  good  George,  whom  she  loved 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


483 


dearly,  but  that  she  could  not  live  with  me,  and  had  no  wish 
to  be  saved  by  me,  far  less  to  perish  with  me. 

But  in  my  own  eyes  I  was  and  remained  a  condemned 
criminal,  severed  from  the  companionship  of  the  good  and 
pure.  Never  for  me  should  the  flame  glow  on  the  domestic 
hearth,  never  a  pure  woman  make  me  happy  with  her  hand, 
never  laughing  children  play  around  my  knees.  The  curse 
with  which  unkind  Nature  had  smitten  the  good  doctor — the 
curse  of  never  being  loved  as  his  heart  yearned  to  be — I  had 
in  my  folly  invoked  upon  myself;  and  thus  nothing  remained 
for  me  but,  like  him,  to  renounce  individual  love,  and,  like 
him,  to  draw  comfort  and  solace  from  the  overflowing  foun- 
tain of  love  for  suffering  humanity. 

I  was  able  to  see,  later,  that  the  doctor,  as  wise  as  he  was 
skilful,  judged  pretty  accurately  of  my  condition,  and  took  a 
far  less  tragical  view  of  it  than  I  did.  But  the  state  of  my 
thoughts  and  feelings  at  the  moment  fitted  very  well  with  his 
purposes.  For  years  he  had  looked  upon  me  as  his  pupil, 
and  he  might  do  so  in  more  than  one  light.  He  had  a  great 
scheme  in  view  in  which  he  counted  on  his  pupil's  assistance, 
and  this,  in  his  opinion,  was  one  step  necessary  to  success. 

I  had  always  known  that  the  worthy  man,  although  he  con- 
stantly maintained  that  while  it  was  true  that  stupidity  was 
a  misfortune,  it  was  none  the  less  true  that  misfortune  was  in 
most  cases  mere  stupidity — cherished  a  great  love  for  the  un- 1 
fortunate  stupids  and  the  stupid  unfortunates.  How  great 
this  love  was,  I  was  now  to  know.  He  made  me  theoreti- 
cally and  practically  acquainted  with  those  social  questions 
with  which  the  whole  world  is  now  occupied,  but  then  were 
only  seen  in  their  full  importance  by  a  few  enlightened 
minds.  He  showed  me  the  state  of  things  in  England,  in 
France,  and  at  home,  and  what  might  also  be  done  in  Ger- 
many upon  the  pattern  of  what  had  been  done  in  England 
and  France.  Then  he  spoke  of  benefit-societies,  of  co-opera- 
tive associations,  and  workmen's  unions,  of  play-schools 
for  children  and  trade-schools  for  adults,  and  all  the  means 
that  have  been  devised  to  fight  the  universal  enemy  upon  his 
own  ground.  At  this  time  there  had  been  next  to  nothing 
of  this  sort  done  among  us :  which  was  all  the  more  unfortu- 
nate, as  just  at  this  time,  with  the  springing  up  of  the  first 
railroads,  manufactures  received  a  quite  unlooked-for  expan- 


484  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

t 
sion,  the  increased  demand  for  labor  brought  an  enormous 
influx  of  workmen,  and  with  this  an  enormous  increase  of 
those  evils  which  even  under  the  old  patriarchal  relations  it 
had  not  been  possible  entirely  to  prevent. 

In  my  frame  of  mind  at  the  time  I  was  soon  brought  to 
enter  into  his  views  with  passionate  ardor.  An  ordinary 
workman,  as  I  was,  in  brotherly  intercourse  with  my  fellow- 
workmen,  I  heard  and  saw  everything  that  went  on  among 
them.  Where  my  knowledge  was  at  fault,  Klaus,  from  his 
fuller  experience,  could  supply  the  defect,  and  further  than 
either  reached  the  keen  vision  of  the  doctor,  who  saw  into  the 
darkest  recesses  which  poverty  and  misery  hide  from  the 
eyes  of  all  but  the  physician.  So  we  three  interchanged  ex- 
periences, and  many  an  evening,  after  the  heavy  work  of 
the  day,  sat  around  the  doctor's  table  in  consultation  over 
the  projects  which  the  doctor  had  so  long  been  nursing. 

Alas  !  it  was  little,  very  little  that  we  could  do.  On  the 
one  side,  we  had  to  contend  with  the  stupidity  of  those  who 
would  rather  go  to  ruin  than  abandon  their  old  routine  ;  and 
on  the  other  side,  with  the  dull  selfishness  of  those  who  could 
not  see  why  they  might  not  prosper,  even  if  the  others  were 
ruined. 

"  It  is  the  old  story  of  Hammer  and  Anvil,"  I  said  one 
evening  to  my  two  friends.  "  The  workmen  have  so  ac- 
customed themselves  to  the  dull  passive  part  of  the  anvil 
that  they  can  set  nothing  in  motion,  even  when  their  own 
interest  manifestly  requires  it.  The  manufacturers,  on  the 
other  hand,  think  that  as  they  are  now  the  gentlemen  of  the 
hammer,  they  have  only  to  pound  away  upon  the  anvil  which, 
heaven  be  thanked,  has  remained  patient  so  far." 

"  Have  I  not  always  told  you  that  it  has  been  so  as  long  as 
the  world  has  stood  ?  "  replied  the  doctor.  "  Now  you  see 
it  for  yourself" 

"  But  there  must  be  some  remedy  discoverable  !  "  I  cried. 
"  I  cannot  let  go  the  precious  faith  of  our  beloved  friend." 

"  Not  in  the  way  in  which  he  sought  it,"  returned  the  doc- 
tor, shaking  his  big  head.  "  He  imagined  that  he  could 
make  men  free  by  teaching  them  the  dignity  and  sanctity  of 
labor.  '  They  were  not  willing  to  work  when  they  should  have 
been  ;  now  they  must  whether  they  will  or  not ;  and  my  task 
is  to  bring  them  to  will  that  which  they  must.     They  were 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


485 


not  free  when  they  were  at  liberty;  I  would  make  them  truly 
free  while  they  are  in  captivity,  that  from  bondage  they  may 
come  forth  as  free  men  '—such  speeches  as  these,  how  often 
have  we  heard  from  his  lips  ?  And  he  firmly  believed  it  all, 
noble  enthusiast  that  he  was,  because  he  did  not  know  the 
world,  did  not  know  that  labor  is  a  commodity  in  the  market 
of  the  world,  which,  like  every  other,  is  subject  to  the  great 
laws  of  supply  and  demand ;  and  that  these  may  stand  so 
adjusted  that  the  free  diligent  workman  may  find  himself  in 
a  pass  where  neither  his  freedom,  his  diligence,  nor  his  work 
is  worth  a  farthing.  So  the  cause  of  Anvil  versus  Hammer 
is  appealed  to  a  higher  court,  where  it  will  be  decided  ac- 
cording to  the  great  laws  of  history  and  political  economy, 
with  a  verdict — as  our  friend  had  correctly  discovered —  , 
that  both  parties  were  guilty  and  liable  for  the  costs  of  the  ; 
suit." 

"  That  may  quiet  our  anxiety  as  to  the  final  result,"  I  said  ; 
"  but  if  I  rightly  understood  our  friend,  the  better  man  might 
in  himself  compose  this  difference,  as  he  is  conscious  that  at 
every  moment  he  at  once  acts  and  suffers,  gives  and  receives, 
bears  and  is  borne — in  a  word,  is  both  Hammer  and  Anvil." 

"  Very  fine  and  honorable  for  him  who  so  penetrates  him- 
self with  this  truth  that  it  influences  all  his  actions,"  replied 
the  doctor.  "  But  the  common  good  is  less  dependent  upon 
this  than  it  seems  ;  and  lucky  that  it  is  so,  for  so  soon  as  the 
individual  has  power,  for  instance  riches,  he  is  seized  with  a 
damnable  itching  to  abuse  it.  What  then  is  to  become  of 
poor  humanity  ? " 

"And  yet  you  abused  me  that  I  did  not  clutch  with  both 
hands  at  your  offer  to  intrust  all  your  fortune  to  me,  which 
I  should  have  cheated  you  out  of  forthwith,  as  a  good  start 
on  my  way  to  a  million." 

"  That  is  a  very  different  matter,"  said  the  doctor,  in  some 
confusion. 

"  I  do  not  see  why,"  I  answered.  "  What  security  have  you 
that  I  can  resist  temptation  better  than  another?  Or  do  I, 
with  my  broad  shoulders,  look  as  if  I  would  go  through  the 
needle's  eye  easier  than  our.  worthy  commerzienrath  ? " 

"  Do  not  compare  yourself  with  that  monster,"  cried  the 
doctor  in  a  rage.  "  Did  I  never  show  you  the  letter  in 
which  he  answered  my  request  that  he  would  take  an  inter- 


486  ILjmmer  and  Anvil. 

est  in  our  projects  ?  Here,  you  can  skip  that  part — a  coarse 
joke  about  people  who  count  their  chickens  before  they  are 
hatched — -but  here:  '  Co-operative  associations  ?  Stuff  and 
nonsense  !  There  is  a  shop  at  every  corner.  Beneficial 
societies  for  the  sick  ? — burial  societies  ?  I  want  healthy 
workmen,  and  have  always  had  as  many  as  I  wanted,  and 
more  too.  The  sick  are  your  affair,  not  mine,  respected 
Herr  Doctor  ;  and  as  for  dying,  it  is  not  likely  that  either  of 
us  can  hinder  that  ? '  " 

"  He  is  a  fool !  "  cried  the  doctor,  tearing  the  letter  in  frag- 
ments and  stamping  upon  it ;  "a  fellow  with  no  bowels  ;  no 
better  than  a  caterpillar  in  human  form  !  " 

"But  so  is  every  one  who  has  a  million,  doctor." 

"  Oh,  you  always  have  an  apology  for  him,"  crowed  Doctor 
Snellius. 

In  this  he  was  not  altogether  wrong  :  I  could  never  feel  as 
indigna^it  with  the  man  as  1  should  have  felt  with  another. 
For,  after  all,  the  man  in  the  blue  frock-coat  with  gold  but- 
tons, and  the  yellow  nankeen  trousers,  was  a  figure  that  be- 
longed to  the  days  of  my  childhood,  upon  whom,  be  he  what 
he  might,  there  ever  lay  a  light  from  the  sun  that  had  shone 
upon  those  days.  And  what  this  is,  is  known  to  ever}-  one 
who  has  had  a  childhood  ;  which,  unhappily,  is  more  than 
many  can  say  of  themselves.  Let  this  sun  but  once  shine 
upon  any  one,  nay,  upon  any  lifeless  thing,  and  they  are 
invested  with  a  charter  that  at  all  times  we  willingly  re- 
spect. And  then  there  was  another  reason  or  two  for  my 
looking  upon  the  rich  commerzienrath  in  another  light  than 
did  my  good  but  bitter  friend.  To  be  sure,  when  I  thought 
of  it,  I  could  not  comprehend — nor  have  I  comprehended  to 
this  day — how  this  man  could  be  the  father  of  the  lovely, 
blue-eved  Hermine  ;  but  so  he  was,  like  an  uncouth,  rough, 
prickly,  and  not  over-clean  shell,  in  which  lay  this  precious 
pearl,  and  which  had  to  be  grasped  if  one  wished  to  enjoy 
the  sight  of  the  pearl's  beauty.  This  was  easier  for  me, 
as  I  had  always  seen  shell  and  pearl  together ;  that  is,  I 
had  always  seen  the  best  side  of  the  shell,  the  smoothest 
and  most  agreeable  side,  which  it  turned  towards  the  daugh- 
ter pearl  within.  Another  reason  was,  the  old  cynic  seemed 
to  me  a  kind  of  original  in  his  way,  and  I  had  always  had  a 
liking  for  that  class  of  men. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  487 

I  had  not  seen  him  since  our  meeting  on  board  the 
steamer,  although  he  had  been  once  or  twice  in  the  city  and 
had  visited  the  works.  The  winter  he  had  spent,  according  to 
his  custom,  in  Uselin,  but  with  the  opening  of  spring  had 
taken  up  his  residence  at  Zehrendorf,  where  his  various  new 
arrangements  urgently  required  his  presence.  Hermine  was 
with  him,  who  for  years  had  spent  her  summers  in  the 
country,  having  an  intense  delight  in  country  life  and  pleas- 
ures. As  a  matter  of  course,  Friiulein  Amalie  Duff  accom- 
panied her  young  lady. 

All  this  I  learned  from  Paula,  who  indeed  was  the  only 
person  who  kept  me  informed  of  what  went  on  in  the  Streber 
family,  as  she  kept  up  a  pretty  active  correspondence  with 
Hermine.  Whether  or  not  1  was  honored  with  a  passing 
mention  in  their  letters  I  could  never  rightly  learn.  Some- 
times I  thought  so,  and  again  I  thought  not ;  and  I  did  not 
like  to  ask  Paula  directly.  I  had  wished  indeed  to  ask  her 
not  to  mention  to  Hermine  that  I  was  employed  in  her 
father's  establishment,  but  I  had  never  done  so,  because  it 
seemed  to  me  like  a  bit  of  childish  vanity  to  request  that  I 
should  not  be  spoken  of  to  a  girl  who,  very  possibly,  never 
asked  about  me.  But  I  almost  believed  that  Paula  had  di- 
vined and  complied  with  my  unspoken  wish,  and  that  they 
knew  nothing  of  me.  Even  if  I  w'ere  entirely  indifferent  to 
Hermine,  I  was  well  assured  that  I  occupied  no  small  place 
in  the  kind  heart  of  her  duenna,  and  that  she  certainly  would 
never  cease  seeking  faithfully  for  her  "  Richard"  until  she 
found  him.  But  over  all  these  things  there  hung  a  mist, 
which  was  only  to  be  lifted  for  me  later,  perhaps  too  late. 
Once  or  twice,  it  is  true,  I  was  struck  by  the  warmth  with 
which  Paula,  especially  lately,  spoke  of  Hermine.  "  She  is 
a  charming  creature,"  she  once  said,  "  with  the  happiest  ad- 
vantages ;  and  she  will  develop  into  a  noble  woman  if  she 
finds  the  right  kind  of  a  husband."  And  again:  "Happy 
the  man  who  wins  this  treasure  !  But  he  must  be  a  man 
worthy  the  name,  for  I  fancy  the  keeping  will  be  a  harder 
task  than  the  winning." 

Did  Paula  know  that  after  that  memorable  meeting  on  the 
steamer,  as  the  wanderer  plodded  his  lonely  way  towards 
the  great  city,  the  blue  eyes  of  Hermine  were  his  lodestars  ? 
When  she  thus  praised  the  fair  girl  to  me — and  she  knew 


488  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

what  weight  her  praises  bore — did  she  wish  to  show  me 
clearly  the  folly  of  certain  fancies  which  might  have  arisen 
in  my  mind  ?  But  what  ground  had  I  given  her  for  believ- 
ing me  capable  of  this  folly  ?  Just  here  there  was  a  secret, 
like  a  dark  cloud,  between  Paula  and  myself;  and  it  was 
not  the  only  one,  nor,  unfortunately,  the  darkest.  I  had 
dropped  no  hint — how  could  I  ? — of  my  unhappy  meeting  with 
Constance :  it  was  the  only  wound  which  her  pure  hand 
might  not  touch ;  a  wound  which  must  secretly  bleed  until 
it  closed  of  itself  But  such  a  secret  wound,  which  one 
carefully  hides,  pains  us  thrice  as  much,  and  is  thrice  as  long 
in  healing ;  and  the  worst  is,  that  with  it  we  have  an  evil 
conscience,  and  shrink  from  the  touch  of  the  hand  that  is 
dearest  to  us,  always  dreading  that  at  some  time,  unwares, 
it  will  make  the  cruel  discovery. 

Thus  it  was  now  between  Paula  and  myself  I  had  never 
visited  her  so  rarely,  never  been  so  cautious  in  my  speech 
with  her — indeed  there  were  times  when  the  unwavering 
kindness  of  this  lovely  and  amiable  girl  was  really  painful 
to  me.  I  trembled  lest  the  conversation  should  turn  upon 
Constance,  or  lest  Paula  should  learn  that  Constance  and 
the  Bellini  were  one  and  the  same  person.  Certainly,  if  no 
one  else  did,  the  young  Prince  Prora  knew  the  secret ;  and 
so,  probably,  did  Arthur. 

But  my  uneasiness  seemed  groundless  ;  neither  the  prince 
nor  Arthur  repeated  their  visit,  and  I  only  learned  .from 
rumor  that  the  prince,  after  throwing  the  whole  residence 
into  uproar  by  his  extravagances  and  caprices,  had  been 
sent  into  the  country  by  his  father,  and  that  Arthur  had  ac- 
companied him.  About  the  same  time  the  newspapers, 
which  then  occupied  themselves  much  more  with  matters  of 
this  sort  than  in  our  agitated  times,  reported  that  the  man- 
ager of  the  Theatre  Royal  had  at  once  engaged  the  young 
artist  who  had  excited  so  much  admiration  at  the  Albert 
Theatre,  but  that  in  high  circles  it  was  thought  unfit  that  a 
star,  however  brilliant,  should  be  transferred  from  a  com- 
paratively humble  sphere  to  the  lofty  heights  of  a  royal 
stage  without  a  becoming  process  of  transition,  and  that  on 
this  account  they  had  given  Fraulein  Bellini  leave  of  absence 
of  several  months,  to  be  applied  to  filling  certain  deficiencies 
in  her  repertoire,  and  to  careful  cultivation  of  her  eminent 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  489 

talent,  for  which  purpose  she  had  at  once  undertaken  a 
journey  to  Paris.  Others  added :  In  the  company  of  the 
premier  amoureiix  of  the  Albert  Theatre,  Herr  Lenz,  who  also 
had  been  engaged  for  the  Theatre  Royal ;  or,  as  others  again 
said,  had  to  be  engaged  because  the  Bellini,  as  self-willed 
as  she  was  beautiful,  made  that  gentleman's  engagement  a 
condition  of  her  own.  In  this  connection  the,  papers  gave 
the  intdVesting  information  that  Herr  Lenz's  real  name  was 
Herr  von  Sommer,  and  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  high  func- 
tionary— of  the  minister,  according  to  some — of  a  small 
neighboring  state.  The  origin  of  the  fair  Bellini  was  also 
surmised  to  be  traceable  to  high- quarters,  but  they  were  not 
at  present  able — others  phrased  it  that  it  was  not  altogether 
discreet — to  lift  the  mysterious  veil. 

When  I  heard  this  I  drew  a  long  breath,  like  a  man  fright- 
ened by  a  ghost,  when  he  hears  the  clock  strike  one.  The 
spectre  may  come  again  the  next  night,  but  for  twenty-three 
hours  at  least  he  will  be  undisturbed.  I  might  be  sure  of 
not  meeting  her  for  several  months  ;  in  the  evening,  when  I 
returned  from  Paula's  house,  I  could  pass  through  the  street 
in  which  she  lived  without  seeing  her  range  of  windows 
lighted,  or  carriages  with  lighted  lamps  and  footmen  in  livery 
standing  at  the  door.  Yes,  the  cold,  cruel,  ghostly  winter 
night  was  at  an  end :  once  more  it  was  morning,  once  more 
it  was  spring. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


I 


T  was  spring  once  more ;  the  first  spring  for  nine  years 
that  I  had  greeted  as  a  free  man.  True  that  fair  season 
had  not  debarred  me  the  sight  of  her  loveliness  in  the 
prison  :  I  recalled  with  pleasure  the  bright  mornings  which 
I  had  spent  in  the  superintendent's  large  garden,  and  how  I 
had  stood  at  the  Belvedere  and  looked  over  the  high  bastion 
to  the  reach  of  sea  which  flashed  a  greeting  to  me  under  the 
bright  sky.  But  this  pleasure  was  never  without  a  dash  of 
sadness,  like  the  greeting  of  a  dear  friend,  who  from  the 
deck  of  an  outward  bound  steamer  waves  a  farewell  to  us 


21* 


49P  '  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

who  are  standing  on  the  shore — "  God  be  with  you !  " — 
"  And  with  you  !  "  A  parting  word,  a  regret  that  we  cannot 
go  with  him,  and  then  silent  and  earnest  we  return  to  our 
silent,  earnest  work. 

All  was  different  now  ;  different  and  far  fairer,  though  I 
missed  the  great  garden  with  its  trees  and  flowers,  and  the 
sea  I  loved  so  well.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  no 
walls  here  nor  bolted  doors  ;  and  it  was  no  passing  ^eeting 
that  I  exchanged  with  the  spring  at  a  distance,  but  a  clasp 
of  the  hand  and  a  kindly  embrace.  We  met  in  the  evening, 
when,  after  my  work  was  done,  I  rambled  for  an  hour  in  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  great  city  park,  regions  to  which 
seldom  any  one  extended  his  wanderings,  and  where  the 
nightingale  sang  undisturbed  her  sweet  song  in  the  budding 
bushes.  And  we  met  again  when  I  stood  on  my  balcony 
before  sunrise  and  looked  eastwards,  where  over  the  crowd 
of  roofs  and  chimneys  the  eastern  sky  was  bordered  with 
purple  clouds  ;  and  an  hour  later,  as  I  went  to  work,  when 
the  first  rays  fell  upon  the  pointed  gables  of  the  smoky  old 
factory  buildings,  and  the  sparrows  twittered  so  merrily  on 
the  eaves  and  in  the  crannies  of  the  walls,  and  the  earliest 
swallows  darted  over  the  yard,  alert  and  busy  as  if  the  thick 
black  laver  of  coal-dust  that  covered  it  was  a  sheet  of  the 
clearest  water. 

Yes  ;  spring  is  here  once  more.  I  feel  her  warm  breath 
playing  around  my  cheeks  and  in  my  hair,  and  her  kiss  upon 
my  brow,  and  I  said  to  myself:  "  All  must  come  right  yet ! 
All  the  snow  which  was  piled  up  in  the  long  winter  nights  is 
melted  away,  and  the  ice  which  then  froze  is  melted  ;  should 
not  the  frost  which  fell  upon  my  heart  in  those  winter  nights 
also  vanish  away  ?  Kind,  gentle  spring,  and  stern,  earnest 
labor,  what  could  resist  you  both  when  you  go  hand  in  hand? 
and  what  heart  not  beat  more  courageously  that  you  two 
have  filled  ?  " 

So  I  threw  myself  into  the  expanded  arms  of  spring,  and 
I  caught  the  hard,  honest  hand  of  labor,  and  felt  almost  all 
my  old  strength  and  confidence  once  more.  Almost  all — 
assuredly,  I  thought,  it  could  not  be  long  before  all  were  re- 
stored. 

There  was  work  enough  in  our  establishment,  and  there 
would  have  been  much  more  if  the  commerzienrath  could 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  49 1 

have  resolved  to  undertake  the  building  of  locomotives. 
The  matter  was  one  of  extreme  importance  ;  indeed  in  my 
opinion  it  involved  the  question  of  the  very  existence,  or,  at 
least,  of  the  prosperity  of  the  works.  If  our  establishment 
in  this  branch  of  industry  did  not  comply  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  time,  its  well-earned  reputation  was  at  an  end. 
Rival  establishments,  that  were  perhaps  less  favorably  situ- 
ated than  ours,  would  throw  themselves  with  all  their  energy 
into  the  new  movement,  and  outstrip  us,  possibly  for  ever  ; 
for  in  the  great  departments  of  industry,  if  anywhere,  not  to 
progress  is  to  retrograde  irretrievably.  Strangely  enough, 
the  man  usually  so  intelligent  and  enterprising  shrank  from 
a  resolution  which  to  be  sure  was  not  to  be  carried  out  with- 
out great  exertions,  great  alterations,  and  some  temporary 
sacrifices.  New  machinery  would  have  to  be  procured,  the 
steam-power  increased,  the  staff  of  the  office  and  the  force 
of  workmen  enlarged ;  new  buildings  would  have  to  be 
erected,  and  this  could  not  be  done  without  bringing  to  a  de- 
cision that  long-pending  question  of  the  purchase  of  the 
ground  on  which  my  lodging  stood.  All  this  demanded 
ample  funds,  clear  insight,  and  prompt  decision. 

Now  with  the  commerzienrath  there  was,  at  least  accord- 
ing to  general  opinion,  no  lack  of  money ;  but  he  seemed 
by  no  means  so  well  furnished  with  the  two  other  necessary 
qualities.  All  who  understood  anything  of  the  matter — the 
manager  of  the  works,  a  plain  but  intelligent  man,  with  whom 
I  had  several  times  been  brought  into  contact  in  matters 
concerning  the  workmen,  and  always  found  him  friendh'^,  the 
young  chief  of  the  Technical  Bureau,  the  head-foreman,  even 
Klaus  himself — all  were  impatient  and  dissatisfied  with  their 
employer,  who  still  held  back  from  saying  a  decisive  word, 
though  every  month- of  delay  was  an  irreparable  loss.  But 
probably  no  one  was  more  impatient  and  dissatisfied  than  I. 
I  had  carefully  studied  the  recent  brilliant  history  of  rail- 
ways in  England  and  Belgium,  and  was  convinced  that  the 
system  would  expand  with  us  into  colossal  proportions,  with 
an  immense  demand  for  locomotives.  Then  the  locomotive 
had  always  been  a  favorite  study  of  my  beloved  teacher, 
whose  genius  had  already  invented,  even  with  the  limited 
means  at  his  command,  and  introduced  in  his  models,  the 
most  important  improvenaents  which  would  be  demanded  by 


492  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  growth  and  development  of  this  branch  of  industry.  It 
had  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  allowed  to  help  him  in  his 
theoretical  studies  and  in  the  construction  of  his  models,  and 
my  brain  glowed  as  I  saw  that  w^iat  bad  been  planned  and 
devised  in  the  quiet  closet  of  the  thinker  would  now  become 
a  reality.  So  must  a  racer  feel  when  he  sees  before  him  the 
course  which  he  is  to  run,  and  yet  is  held  back  frorn  the  start, 
however  he  may  champ  the  bit  and  paw  the  ground.  I  pon- 
dered and  pondered  how  it  might  be  possible  to  overcome  this 
fatal  resistance.  At  last  I  hit  upon  this  plan  :  I  would  draw 
up  a  memorial,  in  which  I  would  set  forth  in  detail  the  reasons 
which  rendered  an  enlargement  of  the  establishment  an  abso- 
lute necessity,  and  at  the  same  time  a  plan  for  carrying  out  this 
extension.  This  paper  was  to  be  sent  to  the  commerzien- 
rath,  and  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  it  would  not  be  without  its 
effect  upon  him.  The  doctor,  to  whom  I  communicated  my 
plan,  did  not  exactly  disapprove  it,  but  by  no  means  entered 
into  it  with  the  warmth  that  I  had  hoped.  To  be  sure  he 
was  not  qualified  to  comprehend  the  theoretical  necessity  of 
the  case,  nor  did  he  share  my  passion  for  the  locomotive  ; 
but  it  was  impossible  that  he  could  be  blind  to  the  fact  that 
I  would  open  a  way  to  give  bread  to  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  workmen,  and  this  was  really  the  chief  object  with  him. 
Instead,  he  again  pressed  me  to  accept  his  offer,  and  even 
to  set  up  an  establishment  with  his  money,  and  we  had  very 
nearly  had  another  quarrel  when,  for  the  second  time,  I  felt 
myself  obliged  to  decline  his  generous  offer. 

But  how  could  I  rob  him,  whose  whole  life  was  a  sacrifice 
for  the  poor  and  miserable,  of  the  means  which  he  so  gener- 
ously and  judiciously  employed,  if  my  enterprise  failed,  as 
well  might  happen  ?  No  !  my  plans  were  to  be  realized,  if 
at  all,  with  other  money  than  the  doctor's.  But  where  was 
I  to  get  it  without  stealing  it,  or  waiting  for  the  coming  of  the 
Javanese  aunt,  whose  speedy  arrival  was  an  unconditional 
article  of  faith  with  Klaus  and  Christel  ?  So  my  thoughts 
were  compelled  to  revert  to  the  commerzienrath,  and  one 
evening  I  began  to  write  my  memorial,  which  I  completed 
in  a  few  nights. 

But  no  sooner  was  it  finished  than  a  new  and  weighty  con- 
sideration presented  itself.  If  I  signed  the  paper  with  my 
name,  my  incognito  was  at  an  end ;  and,  even  if  I  did  not 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  493 

sign,  it  it  came  to  about  the  same  thing,  for  it  could  only  be 
the  production  of  some  one  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
establishment,  and  the  commerzienrath  would  of  course 
inquire  for  the  author,  and  after  creating  much  talk  it  would 
sooner  or  later  be  traced  to  me,  when  I  should  probably  find 
that  by  a  useless  secrecy  I  had  injured  the  cause  I  was  advo- 
cating. 

It  was  a  perplexing  dilemma,  and  I  went  about  as  m  a 
dream,  ever  pondering  over  the  unlucky  memorial  which  lay 
finished  upon  my  table,  and  might  just  as  well  have  been 
left  unwritten. 

"  But  you  must  come  to  some  decision,"  said  Paula,  "  and 
here  there  can  really  be  no  question  what  that  decision 
should  be." 

From  a  very  intelligible  feeling  of  shyness  I  had  refrained 
from  telling  Paula  what  it  was  that  lay  so  heavy  on  my  mind ; 
but  Kurt,  who  worked  in  the  establishment  under  Klaus's 
direction,  and  almost  every  evening,  when  he  came  from 
work,  spent  an  hour  with  me,  could  not  be  kept  ignorant  of 
what  I  had  in  hand,  and  he  had  told  all  to  his  sister. 

"  You  must  not  be  angry  with  Kurt  for  it,"  said  Paula  ; 
"  he  cannot  imagine  that  you  would  wish  to  keep  anything 
secret 'from  your  sister." 

"  Have  you  then  no  secrets  from  me  ?"  I  said. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  she  asked,  with  a  look  in  which  I 
thought  I  detected  traces  of  confusion. 

I  did  not  wish  to  press  my  question,  for  this  would  have 
brought  me  to  the  ticklish  point  which  I  had  so  carefully 
avoided — whether  there  was  any  mention  of  me  in  the  cor- 
respondence between  Paula  and  Hermine  ;  so  I  muttered 
something  unintelligible  in  reply,  and  brought  the  conversa- 
tion back  to  my  plans,  my  hopes,  and  wishes  in  reference  to 
the  works. 

"  You  have  lately  kept  me  so  uninformed  as  to  what  is 
going  on  in  your  world  that  I  am  quite  in  the  dark.  Let 
me  read  your  memorial ;  give  it  to  Kurt  this  evening  to  bring 
home." 

This  was  on  a  Sunday,  and  the  next  week  there  was  much 
work  to  do  in  the  factory,  for  me  especially.  A  large  ma- 
chine of  peculiar  construction  had  been  built,  intended  to 
operate  in  a  chalk- quarry,  which  the  commerzienrath  had 


494  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

opened  at  Zehrendorf  among  his  other  industrial  undertak- 
ings there.  I  was  employed  in  mounting  the  machine.  All 
went  smoothly  on :  the  bed-plate  had  been  laid  exactly  level, 
and  some  little  unevenness  left  in  planing  corrected  ;  the 
fly-wheel  was  hung,  the  journals  adjusted,  and  the  bolt-holes 
drilled  ;  the  machine  was  at  last  so  far  finished  that  all  that 
remained  to  be  done  was  the  arrangement  of  the  guiding- 
apparatus,  and  the  regulation  of  the  piston-rod.  This  was 
also  set  right ;  but  when  the  foreman  took  hold  of  the  fly- 
wheel to  set  the  machine  in  motion  to  try  it,  it  became  evi- 
dent that  the  driving-rod  did  not  work  with  a  true  motion. 
The  foreman  and  I  looked  at  each  other  anxiously  ;  we  most 
carefully  compared  the  dimensions  of  the  various  parts  by 
scale  with  those  of  the  plan,  but  there  was  no  error  discov- 
erable. 

"  This  is  a  confounded  piece  of  business  !  "  said  the  fore- 
man. 

"  What  is  the  matter  1 "  asked  the  head-foreman,  Roland, 
who  came  up  at  the  moment.  i 

Head-foreman  Roland  was  a  man  of  Cyclopean  stature, 
whose  left  leg  had  once  been  broken  in  some  machinery,  giv- 
ing him  a  limping  gait,  of  which  he  was  rather  proud  after 
once  hearing  that  the  god  Vulcan,  the  patron  of  his'  craft, 
had  the  same  infirmity.  Head-foreman  Roland  had  more- 
over so  good  an  opinion  of  himself  that  under  the  project- 
ing thatch  of  his  thicTk  moustache,  around  the  left  corner  of 
his  mouth,  there  was  usually  playing  a  consequential  smile, 
which  from  time  to  time  glided  into  the  dense  forest  of  his 
bushy  beard  and  whiskers,  where  it  continued  its  course  un- 
seen. 

When  the  matter  was  explained  to  him  he  looked  first  at 
the  foreman  and  then  at  the  two  workmen,  each  in  turn,  let 
the  consequential  smile  play  under  the  thatch,  and  said  : 
*'  There  must  be  some  mistake  in  the  execution  ;  give  me 
the  plans." 

These  were  handed  him,  and  he  began  to  compare  meas- 
urements, just  as  we  had  done  before  he  came  up  ;  but  the 
longer  this  comparison  lasted,  and  brought  no  lurking  error 
to  light,  the  -feebler  grew  the  smile,  and  it  had  vanished 
entirely  in  the  forest  depths  when  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later 
he  went  with  the  plans  jn  his  hands  to  the  Technical  Bureau, 


Hantmer  and  Anvil.  495 

muttering  in  a  surly  tone  that  there  must  be  some  blunder  in 
the  cursed  plans. 

This  had  been  my  own  idea  at  first,  but  I  had  changed  my 
opinion.  A  suspicion  began  to  dawn  upon  me  that  the 
drawings  might  be  all  correct,  and  the  measurements  exactly 
followed,  and  that  the  cause  of  the  trouble  lay  deeper. 

So  I  stood  with  my -arms  crossed  upon  my  breast  while 
the  foreman,  with  the  other  workmen,  and  some  few  more 
who  had  come  up  to  look  on,  as  work  was  now  over  for  the 
evening,  exchanged  opinions  on  the  subject.  Some  thought 
that  the  thread  of  a  screw  on  one  of  the  shafts  had  been  cut 
to  an  erroneous  angle,  and  others  had  other  suggestions  to 
make. 

"  The  thing  must  be  simple  enough,"  said  Herr  Windfang, 
of  the  Technical  Bureau,  who  now  entered  with  the  troubled 
head-foreman. 

There  was  nothing  Cyclopean  about  Herr  Windfang  ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  was  an  elegant  young  gentleman,  with  a 
touch  of  dandyism  about  him. 

"  It  must  be  simple  enough,"  he  repeated ;  "  try  it 
again." 

I  cannot  tell  how  many  times  they  tried  it,  but  the  abom- 
inable driving-rod  persisted  in  its  false  movement. 

"Give  me  the  drawings,"  said  Herr  Windfang.  "  Ah,  here 
they  are.     The  error  must  be  in  the  work." 

While  they  were  once  more  making  the  comparisons  and 
measurements,  which  the  foreman  and  myself  and  then  Herr 
Roland  had  made  in  vain,  I  had  studied  the  matter  further, 
and  was  so  convinced  of  my  view  that  when  Herr  Windfang, 
very  much  out  of  countenance,  looked  at  Herr  Roland,  and 
Herr  Roland,  with  a  faint  gleam  of  a  smile  playing  in  the 
left  corner  of  his  mouth,  looked  at  Herr  Windfang,  I  could 
no  longer  keep  silent,  and  said : 

"  It  is  no  use  to  compare  measurements  :  the  dimensions 
all  agree :  we  shall  not  get  at  the  error  in  this  way,  for  it  is 
an  error  of  construction,  and  lies  in  the  guiding  movement." 

So  bold  a  speech  could  not  fail  to  turn  the  eyes  of  all  pre- 
sent upon  me.  Young  Herr  Windfang  measured  me  with 
his  eyes  from  head  to  foot,  a  process  which,  as  he  was  of 
rather  small  stature,  occupied  some  time ;  the  familiar  smile 
came  out  of  the  forest  of  Roland's  whiskers,  and  played 


496  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

quite  gaily  under  the  thatch  of  his  moustache  ;  for,  if  the  mat- 
ter was  as  I  said,  the  fault  fell  neither  upon  him  nor  any  one  of 
his  subordinates,  but  went  back  to  the  Technical  Bureau — a 
very  gratifying  thing,  under  the  circumstances,  for  the  worthy 
head-foreman.  The  foreman,  who  had  a  high  opinion  of 
me,  nodded,  as  if  to  say  :  There  you  have  it.  The  workmen 
looked  at  each  other  and  smiled. 

"  Why  do  you  say  that,  sir  ?  "  asked  Herr  Windfang,  com- 
ing up  to  me,  and  taking  another  hasty  measurement  of  me. 

"  Because  I  am  convinced  of  the  fact,"  I  answered. 

"  That  is  a  piece  of  arrogance  on  your  part,  sir  !  "  cried 
the  engineer. 

"  You  and  the  other  gentlemen  are  not  infallible,  like  the 
pope!"  I  retorted.  .     ,     ) 

Here  the  men  laughed  loudly. 

"  We  will  speak  of  this  matter  again,"  said  Herr  Wind- 
fang.  -,       ,         ( 

"We  will  indeed,"  was  my  reply. 

The  irascible  young -man  hurried  out  of  the  building  in  a 
rage,  but  the  head-foreman  shook  me  by  the  hand  and  said  : 
"  Thank  you,  Hartwig  ;  you  took  him  down  handsomely ;  " 
and  the  men  accompanied  me  across  the  yard,  loudly  taking 
my  part,  and  giving  me  to  understand  that  my  cause  was 
their  own.  Klaus  and  Kurt,  who  had  come  out  of  another 
shop,  now  joined  me.  They  had  heard  of  the  little  skirmish 
I  had  had  with  the  Technical  Bureau,  and  wanted  to  know 
the  facts.  I  did  not  go  into  details,  for  I  was  eager  to  get 
home  to  maintain  the  gauntlet  I  had  thrown.  I  had  all  the 
designs  of  the  machine,  in  the  construction  of  which  I  had 
helped  throughout ;  the  necessary  works  of  reference  were 
in  my  possession  ;  my  lamp  was  trimmed,  and  a  little  fire 
burning  on  my  hearth,  as  the  nights  were  still  chilly. 

So  I  spent  all  the  cool  spring  night  measuring,  calculat- 
ing, comparing,  constructing,  and  when  the  first  rosy  morn- 
ing clouds  rose  over  the  throng  of  roofs  and  chimneys  I  had 
found  what  I  was  seeking,  and  fixed  it  in  irrefragable  for-, 
mulae  and  figures.  There  it  lay  upon  my  table  in  a  careful 
drawing,  with  the  measurements  all  noted,  and  there  it  stood 
fast  in  my  head,  and  from  my  head  a  sense  of  triumph 
hurried  to  my  heart,  which  began  to  beat  violently.  But  I 
checked  my  rising  pride  by  remembering  that  I  owed  it  all 


iTammer  and  Anvil.  497 

to  ///;//,  and  I  fancied  I  saw  the  face  of  my  beloved  teacher 
smiling  upon  me,  and  tears  sprang  to  my  eyes.  Then  I 
went  back  to  my  room  and  slept  an  hour  or  so,  as  deeply 
and  sweetly  as  I  ever  slept  in  my  life. 

"  How  is  it,  Malay }  "  asked  my  comrades  when  I  appeared 
among  them. 

"  How  is  it,  Hartwig .?  "  asked  the  head-foreman,  who  was 
again  standing  before  the  unlucky  machine,  without  a  smile 
this  time. 

"  How  is  it,  George  ?  "  asked  Klaus  and  Kurt,  coming 
over  from  their  shop. 

"  I  will  show  you,"  I  said.  I  went  up  to  the  machine  and 
gave  a  sort  of  little  lecture,  in  which  I  set  forth  the  result  of 
my  night's  work  in  a  way,  as  I  think,  both  clear  and  con- 
nected, for  they  all  listened  with  the  most  eager  attention ; 
and  their  faces  grew  brighter  and  brighter  as  I  proceeded, 
until,  when  my  demonstration  was  finished,  Kurt  clapped  his 
hands,  Klaus  looked  around  with  inexpressible  pride,  the 
men  nodded  to  each  other  with  expressive  looks,  and  head- 
foreman  Roland,  with  a  really  sunny  smile  under  the  thatch, 
shook  my  hand  as  he  said  : 

"Go  ahead,  my  son,  go  ahead  ;  we  will  give  it  to  them." 

"Malay,  you  must  come  to  the  manager,"  said  the  office- 
messenger,  coming  up. 

My  audience  exchanged  expressive  looks. 

"  Go  ahead,  my  son  1  "  said  Herr  Roland ;  "  give  it  to 
them  !  " 

The  Manager,  Herr  Berg,  a  worthy,  modest  man,  but  of 
no  great  breadth  of  views,  was  alone  in  his  office,  which  ad- 
joined the  Technical  Bureau. 

"  I  have  heard,  Hartwig,"  he  said,  "  that  you  think  you 
have  discovered  the  error  in  the  new  machine.  Although 
this  appears  rather  more  than  doubtful  to  me,  still  men  in 
your  place  now  and  then  hit  upon  things  which  others  search 
after  in  vain  for  days.  I  worked  up  from  the  ranks  myself, 
and  know  that.     What  do  you  believe  to  be  the  difficulty  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  now  believe  it,  Herr  Manager  ;  I  now  know  it," 
I  answered. 

I  said  this  firmly,  but  quite  modestly,  and  took  my  calcu- 
lation and  drawing  from  my  pocket  and  began  to  explain 
them  to  the  manager.     The  matter  was  a  tolerably  compli- 


498  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

cated  one,  and  so  were  the  calculations,  while  the  formulae 
that  I  had  employed  were  by  no  means  simple.  In  my 
eagerness  I  never  thought  that  while  I  was  displaying  my 
knowledge  so  lavishly  I  was  dropping  the  incognito  I  had 
maintained  so  long  and  so  strictly,  and  was  first  made  aware 
of  it  by  the  singular  manner  in  which  the  manager  was  look- 
ing at  me.  He  stood  there,  looking  as  much  amazed  as  did 
Menelaus  when  before  his  eyes  and  in  his  hands  the  won- 
drous "  Old  Man  of  the  Sea  "  changed  into  a  tawny  moun- 
tain lion. 

"  How  in  the  name  of  heaven  did  you  learn  all  that  .-•  " 
he  cried  at  last. 

"  You  have  yourself  just  told  me,  Herr  Manager,  that  you 
rose  from  the  ranks,  and  you  then  must  know  what  can  be 
done  with  industry  and  attention." 

Herr  Berg  looked  at  me  with  an  expression  in  which  it 
was  plainly  visible  that  he  did  not  know  precisely  what  to 
make  of  me,  but  like  a  sensible  man  he  repressed  his  sur- 
prise, and  asked  me  to  leave  the  drawing  and  the  demonstra- 
tion with  him  awhile,  upon  his  pledge  that  no  one  should 
have  sight  of  them  but  himself  If  my  views  were  correct 
I  should  have  the  full  credit  for  them,  and  in  the  meantime 
the  gentlemen  of  the  Technical  Bureau  would  hand  in  their 
statement. 

One,  two,  three  days  passed  before  they  did  this,  however, 
and  by  this  time  the  whole  establishment  was  in  a  fever  of 
expectation.  From  the  head-foreman  down  to  the  last  hand 
who  wielded  the  heavy  sledge,  all  knew  that  *'  the  Malay  " 
had  found  the  defect  in  the  new  machine,  and  that  the  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Technical  Bureau  had  been  working  over  it 
for  three  days  and  had  not  found  it  yet,  and  that  Klaus 
Pinnow  had  said  he  would  bet  his  head  that  Malay  would 
win,  and  that  young  Herr  von  Zehren,  in  Klaus  Pinnow's 
shop,  had  said  to  Herr  Windfang,  who  was  a  great  friend  of 
his,  that  it  was  a  piece  of  extreme  folly  for  Klaus  to  wager 
his  head  against  the  Technical  Bureau,  as  the  latter,  though 
it  consisted  of  six  heads,  had  none  to  stake  against  it. 

Saturday  came.  The  unlucky  machine  stood  there  un- 
touched, an  obstinate  sphinx  that  had  yielded  her  riddle  to 
no  one  but  myself  We  had  taken  in  hand  another  job, 
but  the  men  did  not  work  with  their  usual  spirit.     It  is  an 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  499 

inborn  peculiarity  of  man  that  he  does  not  willingly  under- 
take anything  new  until  the  old  has  been  completed. 

"  You  will  have  the  goodness  to  come  to  the  manager, 
Herr  Hartwig,"  said  the  office-messenger,  coming  in. 

The  men  looked  up  from  their  work,  surprised  to  find  that 
the  "Malay"  had  suddenly  become  a  "Herr  Hartwig." 
They  exchanged  looks  ;  each  one  felt  that  now  the  decision 
had  arrived,  and  head-foreman  Roland,  who  happened  to  be 
crossing  the  yard,  limped  solemnly  up  to  me,  offered  me  his 
Cyclops-hand,  and  said:  "Go  ahead,  my  son;  give  it  to 
them  ;  give  it  to  them  well !  " 

Equipped  with  this  benediction  I  entered  the  manager's 
room,  who  rose  from  his  desk  at  my  entrance,  came  forward 
and  shook  me  by  the  hand.  He  seemed  a  little  nervous, 
and  his  honest  face  expressed  considerable  confusion. 

"  I  congratulate  you,  Herr  Hartwig,"  he  said.  "  You 
were  right.  For  these  three  days  I  have  had  no  doubt  of 
it ;  but,  to  be  sure,  when  one  has  made  the  e:^^  stand  upright, 
another  knows  how  it  is  done.  And  then  I  was  not  quite 
certain  that  I  would  have  found  it  out  myself,  so  it  was  but 
fair  that  I  should  let  the  gentlemen  of  the  Technical  Bureau 
first  try  their  hands.  They  have  been  long  getting  at  it,  and 
your  calculation  is  just  three  times  as  simple  as  theirs.  I 
have  already  combed  their  heads  for  them  a  little,  and  there 
they  sit  with  them  hanging  down." 

The  modest  man  let  his  own  head  hang  a  little  also  as  he 
finished. 

"  Well,  Herr  Manager,"  I  said,  "  the  error  has  been  dis- 
covered, and  that  was  the  main  question ;  who  discovered  it 
is  a  matter  of  little  consequence." 

"  Excuse  me,  Herr  Hartwig,"  he  answered,  "  but  I  disa- 
gree with  you  here.  To  the  manager  of  such  an  establish- 
ment as  this  it  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indifference  whether 
the  work  of  the  Technical  Bureau  is  done  by  its  staff,  or  in 
the  machine-shop,  for  the  main  thing  is  that  every  man  shall 
stand  in  the  place  where  he  belongs,  and  after  this  example  " 
• — here  he  laid  his  hand  upon  my  drawing,  which  was  on  the 
table — "  no  other  proof  is  needed  that  you  are  altogether  in 
a  false  position." 

"  But,  Herr  Manager,"  I  replied,  "  that  is  entirely  my  own 
fault,  and  as  a  man  makes  his  bed  so  must  he  lie." 


500  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  manager,  "  that  is  my  comfort ;  but  I  had 
much  rather  that  you  had  been  candid  with  me  from  the 
first.  I  might  then  be  able  to  send  back  with  a  protest  the 
snub  which  the  commerzienrath  has  sent  me  to-day.  There 
— read  for  yourself." 

I  took  the  paper  which  the  manager  offered  me,  and 
glanced  over  a  letter  four  pages  long,  in  which  all  possible 
reproaches  were  heaped  upon  poor  Herr  Berg  because  he 
had  had  so  long  in  the  works  a  man  like  myself,  whose  mathe- 
matical and  technical  genius  had  long  been  known  to  him, 
the  commerzienrath,  and  had  not  reported  the  fact  at  once — 
"  and  even  granting  that  you  considered  yourself  bound  to 
conceal  matters  of  the  highest  importance,  it  was,  at  the  very 
least,  your  duty  and  obligation  to  give  my  young  friend  a 
position  corresponding  to  his  talents  and  abilities  ;  or  did 
you  fear  that  perhaps  this  position  would,  in  that  event,  be 
no  other  than  your  own  place,  Herr  Manager  ? 

"  But  that  is  shameful !  "  I  cried,  throwing  down  the  let- 
ter. 

The  worthy  man  shook  his  head.  "  His  meaning  is  not 
so  bad  as  his  words,"  he  said,  "  and  if  it  were,  we  are  used 
to  it.     Read  further."  I 

"I  do  not  wish  to  read  any  more." 

"  But  you  must :  the  most  important  is  to  come  :  see 
here " 

"  Under  these  circumstances  there  is  but  one  reparation 
to  my  young  friend  possible.  This  consists,  first,  in  placing 
him  at  once  in  the  Technical  Bureau  ;  secondly,  in  asking 
him,  in  my  name,  to  oversee  on  the  spot  the  erection  of  the 
machine  at  the  chalk-quarry  at  Zehrendorf.  I  have  also 
written  him  to  this  effect  myself" 

"  Now,"  said  the  manager,  with  a  good-humored  smile, 
"  as  for  the  first  point,  you  have  already,  by  your  work,  won 
yourself  a  place  in  the  Technical  Bureau  ;  and  as  for  the 
second,  you  will  do  me  a  special  favor,  which  perhaps  you  owe 
me  on  account  of  that  snub — you  understand  me — to  under- 
take the  business  at  Zehrendorf  I  had  intended  to  send  Herr 
Windfang.  The  alterations  in  the  machine  will  occupy  a 
week  at  least,  and,  as  I  know  the  commerzienrath,  I  shall 
risk  my  position  by  this  delay,  unless  there  is  a  friend  who 
will  speak  a  good  word  for  me.     And  now  go  home ;  you 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  501 

will  have  much  to  attend  to,  and  you  must  be  off  by  the  last 
train  ;  but  I  will  come  round  to  see  you  first." 

The  manager  shook  hands  with  me  heartily,  and  I  went 
home  in  a  rather  singular  frame  of  mind. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

AND  my  perplexity  was  still  further  heightened  when  on 
reaching  home  I  found  a  letter  from  the  commerzien- 
rath  lying  on  my  table  : 

"  My  Dear  Young  Friend  : 

"  Oh,  these  women,  these  women  !  I  just  now  learn  for 
the  first  time  what  you  have  kept  from  my  knowledge  half  a 
year — that  you  have  so  long  been  working,  like  Samson 
among  the  Philistines,  in  my  establishment.  Did  I  not, 
when  I  last  saw  you  in  the  house  of  our  never-to-be-forgot- 
ten friend,  entreat  )'0u  again  and  again  to  let  me  know  as 
soon  as  you  recovered  your  liberty .''  Why  have  you  not 
done  so  ?  why  have  you  hidden  your  light  so  long  under  a 
bushel  ?  You  always  had  a  great  inclination  that  way,  but 
so  much  the  more  is  it  now  time  that  you  should  let  it  shine 
before  men — and,  just  now,  before  me.  Therefore  come  here 
as  soon  as  possible  ;  1  have  a  multitude  of  things  to  talk 
over  with  you  about  matters  here,  as  well  as  at  the  works, 
which  last — as  I  now,  unfortunately,  know  for  the  first  time 
— ^you  thoroughly  understand.  [These  words  were  under- 
scored.] You  will  here  pass  some  pleasant  days  among 
none  but  good  old  acquaintances,  of  whom  none  is  older 
nor  a  better  friend  of  yours  than  your  obedient  servant, 

"  Philip  August  Streber." 

I  laid  the  letter,  which  was  written  in  a  large,  round  busi- 
ness-hand, somewhat  tremulous  in  places,  upon  the  table, 
and  paced  my  room  in  extreme  astonishment.  How  upon 
earth  did  the  man  know  that  I  was  here  .?  that  I  understood 
these  things  ?  Who  could  have  told  him  ?  There  was  but 
one  explanation  possible.     But  why 


502  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  But  why  torment  myself  about  the  matter  ?  "  I  cried, 
took  my  hat,  and  set  out  for  Paula's  house. 

"We  are  a  little  nervous  this  morning,"  my  old  friend 
whispered  to  me  at  the  door  of  Paula's  studio. 

"  Don't  you  know  what  it  is  ? "  I  asked  in  the  same  tone. 

The  worthy  man  shook  his  head,  the  head  which  in  his 
opinion  was  playing  so  important  a  part  in  the  history  of 
modern  art,  and  said  : 

"  One  would  have  to  have  seven  senses,  like  a  bear,  to 
know  what  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  dear  creatures."  | 

With  these  words  he  opened  the  door. 

Paula  was  alone,  as  Siissmilch  had  told  me.  She  hastily 
laid  pencils  and  palette  aside,  and  came  to  me  with  her 
hand  extended.  I  saw  at  the  first  glance  that  she  had  been 
weeping,  and,  although  her  cheeks  were  flushed  at  this  mo- 
ment, she  looked  to  me  pale  and  unwell. 

"  You  were  expecting  me,  Paula  ? "  I  asked,  holding  her 
hand  in  my  own. 

"Yes,"  she  answered;  "and  as  you  come  at  an  unusual 
time,  I  suppose  you  know  why  I  was  expecting  you."      [ 

"  It  was  your  doing,  Paula,  was  it  not  ?  "  I  said.         i 

"  Yes,"  she  replied. 

She  looked  me  full  in  the  eyes.  Her  look  had  that  strange, 
half-sad,  half-indignant  expression  which  I  had  only  observed 
once,  on  the  morning  of  that  fatal  day  when  she  disengaged 
herself  from  my  arms  in  which  I  had  clasped  her  to  save  her 
from  the  falling  Belvedere.  It  was  a  recollection  which  filled 
me  with  an  indefinite  fear,  and  so  confused  me  that  my 
glances  fell  before  the  maiden's  large  luminous  eyes. 

At  this  moment  I  heard  her  draw  a  long  breath,  and  as  I 
looked  up  the  strange  expression  had  vanished  from  her 
eyes,  and  her  voice  was  soft  as  ever,  as,  taking  my  hand  and 
leading  me  to  a  small  sofa,  she  said : 

"  Come,  let  us  sit  down  and  consult  what  is  to  be  done 
right  calmly  and  wisely,  as  brother  and  sister  should  do." 

"  Did  they  know  then  all  the  time  that  I  was  here  ? "  I 
asked. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered  ;  "  and  I  would  have  told  you  all  if 
you  had  asked  me ;  but  you  did  not  ask ;  it  was  a  little  se- 
cret which  you,  quite  unnecessarily,  seemed  to  think  yourself 
bound  to  keep  ;  a  harmless  game  of  hide-and-seek,  such  as 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  503 

every  one  plays  now  and  then.  She  played  the  same  game : 
I  was  on  no  account  to  let  you  know  that  she  was  resolved, 
at  any  price,  to  have  Richard  the  Lion-heart,  and  that  she  in- 
quired after  you  in  every  letter,  I  told  her  that  I  would  say 
nothing  about  it  so  long  as  you  did  not  ask.  But  the  com- 
merzienrath,  I  believe,  really  did  not  know,  although  we  can- 
not altogether  trust  him.  For  that  he  now  writes  for  you  so 
eagerly  as  you  tell  me,  is  no  proof:  he  needs  you  just  now." 

"  Did  you  send  him  my  memorial  ?  "  I  asked. 

"That  was  dreadful,  was  it  not }  "  said  Paula,  smiling  with 
pale  lips  ;  "  but  I  had  to  do  what  you  hesitated  at  doing,  and 
perhaps  could  not  do  yourself:  I  had  to  do  it,  even  at  the 
risk  of  your  displeasure,  for  it  was  a  matter  in  which,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  your  whole  future  was  at  stake." 

"  My  whole  future  "i  " 

"  Scarcely  less.  Indeed  rather  more ;  for  you  must  know 
that  I  am  proud  of  you,  George,  and  convinced  that  you  only 
need  the  means  to  accomplish  really  important  things  in 
your  profession.  The  commerzienrath  has  these  means. 
You  must  teach  him  to  employ  them  ;  you  are  the  only  one 
who  can,  for  I  have  long  known  that  he  has  taken  the  exact 
measure  of  your  talents  with  that  acuteness  of  insight  which 
is  peculiar  to  men  of  his  stamp.  And  now  he  has  in  his 
hands  the  proof  of  what  you  can  do.  Then  you  have  the 
advantage  that  he  is  personally  well-disposed  toward  you,  so 
far  as  such  an  egotist  may  be  said  to  be  capable  of  unselfish, 
genuinely  human  interest  in  any  one.  In  a  word  :  the  op- 
portunity is  a  more  propitious  one  than  you  are  likely  ever 
to  have  again." 

"  You  send  me  away,  Paula,"  I  said,  "  out  of  these  dear 
old  associations  into  others  altogether  new  and  strange,  from 
which  it  is  scarce  possible  that  I  can  return  as  I  departed, 
while  it  is  quite  as  improbable  that  I  sh'all  find  again  what  I 
leave.     Have  you  well  considered  all  this  ?     And  if,  as  I 

must  suppose,  you  have  considered  it,  then Paula,  I  wish 

it  were  less  easy  for  you  to  send  me  away." 

"  Who  says  that  it  is  easy  for  me .''  "  asked  Paula,  quickly 
rising  and  taking  a  few  steps  across  the  room.  These  steps, 
by  chance  apparently,  brought  her  to  her  easel,  and  she  re- 
mained standing  before  it  with  her  face  averted  from  me. 

"  I  mean,"  I  said,  "  that  I  wish  vou  found  it  harder  to 


504  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

do  without  me,  if  not  on  your  own  account  for  the  sake  of 
your  mother  and  your  brothers  ;  that,  in  a  word,  I  were  to 
them  what  you  are  now.  But,  Paula,  you  have  always  been 
so  proud ;  and  in  truth  you  have  now  more  reason  than 
ever." 

Paula  had  found  something  to  do  at  her  easel,  and  some 
little  time  passed  before  she  answered  : 

"  You  men  are  strange  creatures  :  everywhere  you  wish 
your  influence  to  be  felt ;  even  what  you  approve  does  not 
come  to  pass  satisfactorily  unless  it  is  your  doing.  But  this 
is  only  a  transient  feeling  of  yours,  which  I  can  well  under- 
stand   " 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  quite  understand  it,"  I  said 
•  in  a  low  tone. 

"  Perfectly,  perfectly,"  she  said,  bending  lower  over  her 
easel ;  "  when  any  one  is  as  much  attached  to  another  as 
you  are  to  us,  he  desires  to  be  always  giving,  and  feels  it  a 
heavy  loss  if  this  comes  to  be  out  of  his  power.  But  I 
really  do  not  see  why  we  sadden  ourselves  so  unnecessarily. 
You  are  not  going  to  be  carried  away  from  us  forever. 
You  are  only  moving  out  of  a  narrow,  wretched  channel, 
unfit  for  so  proud  a  ship,  into  the  broad  ocean.  Of  course 
you  will  of  necessity  often  forget  us  a  little,  or  perhaps 
entirely  ;  for  the  man  who  wishes  to  do  anything  great  and 
complete  must  have  his  arms  free :  he  cannot  and  must  not 
drag  the  toys  of  his  childhood  or  the  idols  of  his  youth  with 
him  through  life.  I  wish  that  you  would  see  that  clearly, 
George  ;  bring  yourself  to  see  it  clearly  in  this  moment,  of 
which  I  repeat  that  I  consider  it  a  decisive  one  ;  since  now, 
for  the  first  time  in  your  life,  after  long  years  of  apprentice- 
ship, you  enter  on  the  rights  of  a  master — can  for  the  first 
time  show  yourself  as  you  are.  At  a  decision  like  this,  all 
subordinate  interests  must  stand  back :  all,  George ;  even 
we — our  mother,  your  brothers,  your  sister." 

I  could  not  see  her  face,  which  she  still  held  down,  but 
there  were  tears  in  her  voice. 

I  approached  her,  but  she  turned  her  face  away. 

"Paula!  "   I  said. 

I  wished  to  say  more  ;  to  tell  her  all ;  to  tell  her  that  if  I 
were  to  lose  her  by  my  decision,  whatever  else  I  might  win 
by  it  seemed  inexpressibly  worthless  to  me  ;  that 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  505 

"  Paula  !  "  I  said  once  more,  but  I  said  it  at  her  feet,  with 
hot  tears  streaming  from  my  eyes.  I  strove  for  words,  but 
they  would  not  come. 

A  soft  hand  passed  gently  over  my  hair,  and  it  seemed  to 
me — I  was  not  sure  then,  nor  am  I  now — but  it  seemed  to 
me  that  she  lightly  touched  my  brow  with  her  lips.  Then  I 
heard  her  voice,  and  its  tone  was  calm,  sweet  and  clear : 

"  George,  my  brother,  you  must  not  thus  distress  your 
poor  sister.  Now  go  and  bid  our  mother  farewell.  She  has 
long  foreseen  the  approach  of  this  moment,  and  has  impa- 
tiently longed  for  it.  In  her  lives,  far  more  than  in  us, 
George,  the  spirit  of  the  war  for  freedom.  She  knows,  from 
her  own  experience,  that  a  man  must  give  up  home  and 
goods  and  wife  and  children,  and  all  that  is  dear  to  him, 
to  devote  his  life  to  a  great  and  good  cause.  Come, 
George!" 


-o- 


CHAPTER    X.        .        V 

A  LIVELY  breeze  was  blowing  in  my  face  as  the  car- 
riage in  which  I  was  jolted  along  the  road  from  Fahr- 
dorf  to  Zehrendorf,  a  bad  one  in  the  best  of  times, 
but  now,  in  the  spring,  at  its  worst.  The  driver  on  the  box 
had  wrapped  himself  close  in  a  horse-blanket  and  sat  hud- 
dled together,  while  the  strong  horses  had  as  much  as  they 
could  do  to  drag  the  light  vehicle  through  the  deep  miry- 
ruts.  It  was  about  eight  in  the  evening,  and  the  moon  was 
an  hour  high,  but  only  from  time  to  time  did  a  glimpse  of 
her  disc  peer  out  through  the  heavy  clouds,  throwing  a  de- 
ceitful light,  quickly  succeeded  by  darkness,  over  drenched 
fields  and  meadows,  with  pools  of  water  glistening  here  and 
there  over  the  wide  expanse  of  barren  heath. 

And  as  lights  and  shadows  chased  each  other  over  the 
wide  expanse,  so  alternated  in  my  soul  the  memories  of  joy 
and  grief  that  I  had  experienced  here.  The  days  that  I  had 
spent  here  came  all  back,  and  passed  by  me  with  faces  beam- 
ing with  smiles,  clouded  by  grief,  or  distorted  with  pain. 
22 


5o6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

And  there  were  far  fewer  of  the  smiling  days  than  of  those 
with  sad  and  gloomy  looks  ;  and  at  last — for  during  the 
whole  journey  it  had  seemed  to  me  almost  a  wickedness  that 
I  should  dare  to  return  to  this  spot — this  feeling  overcame 
me  so  strongly  that  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  calling  to 
the  driver  to  stop,  that  I  could  go  no  further  to-night. 

"We  shall  reach  the  top  directly,"  said  the  man,  giving  his 
tired  horses  a  cut  with  the  whip. 

I  do  not  know  why  he  thought  it  necessary  to  offer  me  this 
consolation ;  perhaps  he  had  thought  that  the  groan  which 
escaped  me  was  extorted  by  the  badness  of  the  road. 

But  he  was  right.  I  knew  that  as  well  as  he  did.  The 
light  below  us,  which  seemed  to  shine  out  of  the  earth,  came 
from  a  little  house  leaning  against  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and 
those  broad  white  patches,  which  contrasted  so  singularly 
with  the  black  hills,  were  the  great  chalk-quarries  belonging 
to  Prince  Prora,  to  which  the  house  belonged  ;  and  not  far 
from  us,  on  the  ridge  which  we  were  slowly  climbing,  was  a 
piece  of  woods — part  of  the  same  woods  in  which  I  fled  from 
my  pursuers  for  four  days. 

The  sturdy  horses  stretched  to  their  work,  and  now  we 
were  on  the  ridge.  Down  the  other  side  we  went,  over  a 
hard  sandy  road,  and  the  wind  came  sweeping  on  its  mighty 
pinions  from  over  the  sea,  making  the  driver  wrap  himself 
still  closer  in  his  blanket.  But  I  drew  long  deep  breaths, 
and  drew  in  full  draughts  of  deliciousness  that  I  had  wanted 
so  long. 

Heartily  I  greeted  the  loved  sea-breeze,  that  friend  of  my 
childhood.  Long  had  I  pined  for  it  in  the  narrow  streets  of 
the  city,  where  only  a  mockery  of  it  blew  in  fitful  puffs  and 
with  malicious  pranks,  and  whistled  shrill  and  spitefully 
around  the  corners.  How  often  had  this  mighty  sea-wind 
filled  my  young  heart  with  inexpressible  gladness  ;  and  now 
it  chased  the  dark  memories  from  my  soul  as  it  swept  away 
the  black  clouds  from  the  sky,  so  that  the  whole  broad  ex- 
panse of  the  plateau  reaching  back  from  the  promontory  lay 
in  clear  moonlight  before  my  eyes.  That  great  cluster  of 
buildings,  with  a  garden  like  a  park,  and  short  white  church- 
steeple,  is  Herr  von  Granow's  estate  ;  and  that  lower  down, 
only  distinguishable  as  a  dark  patch,  is  Trantowitz  ;  and  be- 
yond Trantowitz,  in  the  direction  of  the  wind,  lies  Zanowitz 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  507 

among  the  white  dunes  at  whose  feet  chafes  the  everlasting 
sea.  Melchow,  Trantowitz,  Zanowitz — what  memories  were 
attached  to  these  names  and  these  places!  But  the  glad 
mighty  wind  would  not  suffer  them.  It  comes  rushing  on  in 
vast,  regular  impulses  like  the  strokes  of  an  eagle's  wings, 
and  amidst  its  rush  I  fancy  I  can  hear  a  rough  honest  voice 
saying :  All  that  could  happen,  and  you  thought  you  could 
never  endure  it,  yet  you  have  not  b^en  crushed,  but  stand 
firm  upon  your  feet,  and  still  carry  your  head  erect  between 
your  broad  shoulders  ;  and  all  this  is  so  because  I  have 
blown  around  you  from  your  childhood,  and  you  have  drawn 
me  into  your  blood  until  your  heart  beats  strong  and  daunt- 
less within  your  breast,  even  though  you  know  that  those 
lights  shining  on  that  height  to  the  left  come  from  the  win- 
dows of  the  new  castle  which  the  new  master  of  Zehrendorf 
has  built  in  the  place  of  the  old  which  you  saw  sinking  in 
flames  on  that  terrible  night. 

Not  quite  in  the  place  of  the  old  one :  the  old  castle  had 
been  built  upon  the  higher  ground,  so  that  it  looked  proudly 
out  over  the  whole  land.  The  new  possessor  did  not  wish  a 
haughty  site,  but  one  sheltered  from  the  north  and  east 
winds,  so  he  did  well  to  fix  his  habitation  somewhat  lower. 

"  And  where  are  the  magnificent  old  trees  of  the  park, 
which  reached  to  the  old  house,  and  here  joined  the  forest?" 
I  asked. 

"  They  are  cut  down,"  said  the  driver  ;  "  the  whole  park  is 
cleared  away  ;  there  is  hardly  enough  left  to  make  a  coffin  of." 

I  do  not  know  what  suggested  this  melancholy  expression 
to  the  taciturn  man,  but  it  struck  me  strangely.  Did  not 
the  Wild  Zehren  once,  when  we  were  standing  at  the  win- 
dow and  looking  out  into  the  park,  say  that  not  enough  of 
it  belonged  to  him  to  make  him  a  coffin,  and  that  it  all  stood 
only  to  be  cut  down  and  turned  into  money  by  his  succes- 
sors ?  And  now  it  had  all  come  to  pass,  and  that  light  was 
shining  from  the  new  home  which  the  new  master  had  built 
on  the  ruins  of  the  old. 

Away,  gloomy  thoughts !  Blow  harder,  thou  glad,  strong 
sea-wind  !  Gallop,  you  stout  horses,  down  the  hard,  smooth 
road !  And  now,  rattling  through  the  gate,  we  enter  the 
court  before  the  great,  stately  house,  and  as  we  stop  at  the 
door  servants  come  out  with  lights. 


5o8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

They  come  rather  incited  by  curiosity  than  obsequious- 
ness, which  last,  had  it  been  present,  would  have  suddenly 
cooled  at  the  unpretending  garb  of  the  visitor  and  the  limited 
amount  of  his  luggage.  Indeed,  as  1  crossed  the  lower  hall 
1  caught  sight,  in  a  tall  mirror,  of  the  face  of  the  servant 
who  preceded  me  carrying  my  portmanteau,  and  who,  by 
dint  of  thrusting  his  tongue  into  his  right  cheek,  was  making 
a  frightful  grimace,  undoubtedly  intended  to  express  his  dis- 
gust at  having  to  carry  such  a  disgraceful  old  mangy  seal- 
skin portmanteau — 1  had  borrowed  it  from  Klaus — up  the 
brilliantly  lighted  staircase  of  the  great  house  of  Zehrendorf. 
The  honest  fellow's  feelings  were  apparently  much  hurt  by 
the  incongruity  of  the  visitor's  appearance  with  the  service 
he  had  to  render,  and  he  found  a  neat  way  of  exhibiting  the 
fact  by  tossing  the  question  to  me  over  his  shoulder,  as  he 
rather  flung  down  my  portmanteau  than  set  it  down  :  "  1 
suppose  vou  are  a  countryman  of  our  Mamsclle  ?  '' 

"Who  is  vour  ATamselle?  "  T  asked  in  a  tone  of  perfect 
good  humor,  for  T  confess  to  my  shame  that  the  contempt- 
uous manner  of  the  man,  far  from  offending  me,  afforded  me 
considerable  amusement.. 

"  Whv.  the  old  scarecrow  with  the "  and  he  made  an 

undulator\'  wave  of  his  hand  down  from  his  shoulder,  a  bit 
of  pantomime  in  which  a  lively  imagination  could  see  the 
fluttering  of  long  tresses. 

"  You  mean  Friiulein  Duff,  I  suppose,  friend — what  is 
your  name  ? ''   I  asked. 

"William  Kluckhuhn,"  answered  he.  "You  can  call  me 
William,  for  short." 

''  Tiiankyoii.  And  why  do  you  suppose  me  to  be  a  country- 
man of  Friiulein  Duff,  friend  William  ?" 

"  Well,  the  old  girl  made  a  great  fuss  about  you  to  me.  I 
was  to  show  you  every  attention,  and  you  were  to  have  this 
room  which  looks  on  the  garden,  and  is  really  our  young 
lady's  room,  and  which  she,  heaven  knows  whv,  took  a  notion 
three  days  ago  to  make  a  guest-room.  It  seemed  a  little 
queer  to  us,  for  you  arc,  after  all,  a  workman  in  the  master's 
factory  in  Berlin,  as  the  master  himself  said  at  the  table  to- 
day. 1  am  from  Berlin  myself,  you  must  know,  and  we 
know  there  that  a  hand  in  a  machine-shop  is  not  exactly  the 
Great  Mogul.     But  what  are  we  to  do  ?     After  all,  we  have 


Ha77imer  and  Anvil.  509 

to  dance  to  the  old  girl's  piping,  or  she  will  abuse  us  to  our 
young  lady,  and  she  reports  it  to  the  master,  and  then  there 
is  the  deuce  to  pay,  of  course." 

"  So  that  is  the  way  it  goes,  eh?"  I  said,  laughing  ;  "  from 
Friiulein  Duff  to  your  young  lady,  and  from  her  to  the  Herr 
(Jommerzienrath." 

"  Well,  sometimes  it  goes  the  other  way,"  said  the  philo- 
sophic William  ;  '•  but  this  is  not  so  bad,  for  we  can  hold 
our  own  with  the  old  scarecrow  ;  that  is  an  eternal  truth." 

As  I  heard  the  pet  phrase  of  my  good  friend  from  the  im- 
pudent lips  of  this  ironical  rascal  I  had  to  look  another  way 
to  avoid  laughing. 

"  Well,  and  I  was  to  ask  you  if  you  wanted  any  supper. 
Tea  will  be  served  down-stairs  in  half  an  hour.  But  you 
will  get  nothing:  with  it  but  stale  biscuit  and  thin  sandwiches, 
and  she  thought  you  would  be  hungry'." 

"  So  r  am,  my  friend,"  I  replied,  "  and  you  will  oblige  me 
if  you  will  bring  me  a  bit  of  cold  chicken,  with  a  glass  of 
wine,  or  whatever  you  happen  to  have  handy.  And  one 
thing  more,  friend  William.  I  am  not  a  countryTnan  of 
Friiulein  Duff,  hut  you  will  particularly  oblige  me  if  in  future 
you  never  mention  that  lady  in  my  presence  in  other  than  a 
respectful  manner.  Now  you  can  go  ;  and  you  will  have  the 
goodness  to  ask  the  Herr  Commerzienrath  if  I  shall  wait 
upon  him  before  tea." 

1  said  these  words  in  an  impressive  manner,  not  with  the 
intention  of  humbling  my  friend  in  livery,  but  simple  because, 
as  a  guest  of  the  house,  I  considered  it  my  duty.  The  face- 
tious William  gave  me  a  look  in  which  astonishment  was 
blended  with  suspicion,  and  in  his  heart,  I  fancy,  he  thought 
that  the  old  proverb,  "  Do  not  trust  appearances,"  might  also  \ 
be  a  scrap  of  an  eternal  truth. 

While  he  went  to  do  what  I  had  told  him  I  cast  a  look 
of  some  curiosity  round  the  room  which  three  days  before 
had  been  that  of  the  beautiful  capricious  girl.  I  could  hardlv 
believe  it,  and  yet  it  did  not  look  like  a  guest-room — cer- 
tainly not  like  one  intended  for  so  unpretending  a  guest  as 
myself.  A  thick  soft  carpet  of  a  Persian  pattern  covered 
the  whole  floor.  The  curtains  of  the  windows  and  lambre- 
quins of  the  doors  were  of  heavy  damask,  also  of  a  bright 
fantastic  pattern,  and  looped  with  rich  cords  and  tassels. 


5IO  Hammer  and  Anvil.  j 

The  whole  decoration  and  furniture  were  in  harmony  with 
thi^,  to  my  eyes,  oriental  magnificence.  A  very  low  broad 
divan  occupied  nearly  three  sides  of  the  room,  while  on  the 
fourth,  where  the  windows  were,  low  chairs  were  standing  in 
the  recesses,  and  between  the  windows  stood  a  costly  cabi- 
net of  rosewood,  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl.  From  the 
ceiling  hung  by  gilt  chains  a  lamp  in  a  red  globe,  diffusing, 
with  the  two  wax  candles  that  were  burning  upon  the  table,  a 
soft  rosy  light  throughout  the  apartment. 

On  drawing  a  curtain,  behind  which  I  thought  there  was 
a  door,  I  discovered  a  deep  alcove,  with  a  wide  low  bed, 
with  silken  pillows  and  coverlids.  I  dropped  the  curtain 
again. 

Again  T  examined  the  room,  in  ever  increasing  surprise  at 
the  singular  reception  which  had  been  provided  for  me  here. , 
Upon  the  rosewood  cabinet  stood  a  vase  with  fresh  flowers — 
hyacinths  and  crocuses.  As  I  bent  over  the  vase  to  inhale 
their  perfume  my  eye  was  caught  by  a  blue  ribbon  entwined 
among  them  which  had  letters  embroidered  upon  it  in  gold 
thread,  and  upon  examining  it  more  closely  I  read  the 
words  "  Seek  faithfully  and  thou  shalt  find." 

A  sudden  change  came  over  my  feelings  at  this  discovery, 
and  I  broke  into  a  fit  of  laughter,  but  checked  myself  sud- 
denly and  dropped  the  mysterious  ribbon  again  into  its  fra- 
grant hiding-place,  as  William  Kluckhuhn  entered  with  a 
large  salver,  from  the  contents  of  which  he  arranged  an  ex- 
cellent collation  upon  one  of  the  small  tables  standing  before 
the  divan. 

"  Well,  when  does  the  Herr  Commerzienrath  wish  to  see 
me  ? "  I  asked,  as  William,  his  napkin  under  his  arm,  stood 
before  me  at  the  respectful  distance  of  three  paces. 

"  The  Herr  Commerzienrath  will  have  the  honor  to  meet 
the  Herr  Engineer  at  tea,"  replied  Willaim  Kluckhuhn. 

I  took  a  closer  look  at  the  man,  his  style  of  expression 
and  even  the  tone  of  his  voice  had  undergone  such  a  change. 
Was  I  then  suddenly  promoted  to  the  rank  of  engineer  ? 
Something  must  have  happened  to  him  that  had  wrought  a 
revolution  in  his  views  of  the  new  guest. 

I  pondered  on  what  it  might  be,  but  it  was  a  superfluous 
trouble.  William  Kluckhuhn  was  not  one  of  those  who  can 
keep  a  secret  hidden  in  the  depths  of  their  souls. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  511 

He  cleared  his  throat  in  an  emphatic  significant  manner, 
and  observed  : 

"  The  gnddige  Frdulein  will  not  be  down  to  tea." 

"  Ah,"  I  said  in  an  indifferent  tone,  which  was  belied  by 
the  sudden  beating  of  my  heart. 

"  Yes,"  went  on  my  communicative  friend,  "  I  was  just  now 
in  the  parlor  to   ask  the   Herr   Commerzienrath  when   he 

wished  to  see  the  Herr  Engineer- "     William  Kluckhuhn 

laid  a  strong  accent  upon  the  last  word.  "  '  At  tea,  of  course,' 
said  the  commerzienrath.  '  I  wish  to  receive  him  quite  fa- 
miliarly.' '  Do  you  not  wish  first  to  have  some  private  con- 
versation with  him  1 '  said  the  gnddige  Frdulein.  The  gnd- 
dige Frdulein  had  risen  quite  suddenly  from  the  piano-forte 
at  which  she  had  just  been  playing  and  singing,  and  turned 
to  the  door  where  I  was — standing.  '  Good  heavens,  no,' 
said  the  commerzienrath.  'Where  are  you  going.-''  'To 
my  room,'  said  the  gnddige  Frdulein  ;  '  I  have  been  suffering 
with  headache  all  day.'  'Then  you  will  not  be  down  again,  I 
suppose,'  said  the  Herr  Commerzienrath.  Th^  gfiddige  Frdu- 
lein said  nothing,  for  she  had  already  gone  past  me  out  of 
the  door ;  and  I  can  tell  you,  Herr  Engineer,  she  had  a  pair 
of  cheeks  like  my  shoulder-knots  here,"  and  he  pointed  with 
his  finger  to  the  dark-crimson  knot  on  his  left  sleeve. 

"This  is  all  very  remarkable,"  I  said. 

"  It  is,  indeed,"  said  William,  elevating  his  eye-brows  as 
high  as  his  long  forehead  would  allow,  and  drawing  down 
the  corners  of  his  mouth  into  a  horse-shoe  curve,  "  very  re- 
markable.    And  so  it  seemed  to  the  others,  for  they  looked 

at  one  another,  so "  and  William  Kluckhuhn  stretched 

his  little  eyes  as  wide  open  as  he  could  get  them,  and  stared 
at  me  so  that  I  thought  for  a  moment  he  was  going  out  of 
his  senses. 
.  "  Who  are  the  others  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Well,  the  master  himself,  and  Mamselle — I  mean  Friiu- 
lein  Duff,  and  the  Herr  Steuerrath  and  his  lady " 

"  They  here  too  1 "  I  asked,  not  very  agreeably  surprised. 

"They  have  been  here  for  three  weeks,"  answered  Wil- 
liam ;  "  but  the  day  is  yet  to  come  when  any  one  of  us  has 

seen  this  from  them ~"  and  he  made  a  gesture  with  the 

right  forefinger  and  thumb  over  the  palm  of  his  left  hand. 
"  And  they  all  looked  queer,  and  the  Herr  Commerzienrath 


512  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

looked  very  angry,  but  restrained  himself,  which  is  not  his 
usual  way,  and  said  :  '  That  is  unfortunate  :  but  it  is  not 
to  be  helped.  I  must  invite  the  Herr  Engineer  to  tea.' 
Apropos ! — excuse  me,  but  it  is  a  word  we  use  in  Berlin — 
why  did  not  the  Herr  Engineer  tell  me  at  first  that  he  was 
the  Herr  Engineer  ?  " 

"  Very  well,  William,"  I  said.  "  You  can  take  away  now, 
and  when  it  is  time,  come  and  call  me." 

When  the  talkative  William  had  left  me  I  sprang  up  from 
the  divan  and  paced  the  room  in  an  excitement  which  I  had 
carefully  concealed  from  the  servant.  The  information 
which  he  had  just  given  me  afforded  me  more  matter  for 
reflection  than  I  could  deal  with  at  the  moment.  A  singu- 
lar scene  must  have  occurred,  or  it  would  never  have  made 
so  deep  an  impression  upon  the  by  no  means  susceptible 
William  Kluckhuhn.  And  why  had  Hermine's  headache 
grown  so  intolerable  all  at  once  ?  And  why  had  my  old 
friends,  the  steuerrath  and  the  born  Kippenreiter,  seemed  so 
much  disturbed  ! 

To  all  this  I  could  give  but  one  explanation;  for  a  second, 
that  might  also  have  been  possible,  my  modesty  rejected  at 
once.  The  pretty  girl  had  been  angry  with  me  ever  since 
our  meeting  on  the  steamer.  But  if  this  were  so,  why  all 
those  inquiries  about  me  of  Paula  ?  Whence  came  the  in- 
terest which  she  manifestly  took  in  my  fate  ?  I  saw  her 
again  before  me  as  I  had  seen  her  on  the  steamboat,  her 
red  lips  closely  compressed,  and  her  blue  eyes  darting  indig- 
nant flashes  at  me.  She  had  told  me  that  I  must  let  her 
father  help  me,  since  her  father  was  rich ;  and  I  had  replied 
that  for  that  very  reason  I  did  not  wish  to  be  helped  by  him. 
Was  not  that  the  exact  state  of  the  case  ?  Did  I  want  any- 
thing from  him  ?  Had  I  not  rather  come  to  give  the  rich 
man  some  advice  of  which  he  seemed  to  be  greatly  in  want  ? 
advice  which,  if  he  followed  it,  was  to  make  him  richer  than 
he  had  ever  been  ?  No,  I  did  not  come  into  this  house  as 
an  asker  of  favors.  I  could  hold  my  head  proudly  erect,  as 
beseems  a  free  man  ;  and  if  it  was  meant  as  an  irony  upon 
my  humble  position  that  I  was  here  assigned  this  splendid 
apartment,  I  had  only  to  consider  myself  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion, and  the  solecism  vanished. 

"  Will  you  please  to  come  now  ? "  said  William  Kluck- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  513 

huhn,  appearing  at  the  door.  I  had  intended  to  put  on  my 
best  suit  of  clothes,  which,  with  the  necessary  supply  of 
linen,  and  a  few  papers  and  drawings,  formed  the  entire 
contents  of  my  portmanteau,  but  the  radical  state  of  mind 
into  which  I  had  happily  wrought  myself  scorned  such 
trivialities,  and  it  was  a  gratification  to  me  to  follow  my 
guide  just  as  I  was  down  the  wide  staircase  to  the  lower 
hall,  and  to  a  door  which  he  obsequiously  threw  open  for 
me,  and  through  which,  without  the  least  confusion,  I  entered 
a  large  parlor,  richly  furnished  and  brilliantly  lighted  by 
lamps  standing  on  various  tables. 

At  one  of  these  tables,  at  the  further  end  of  the  room,  sat 
the  company,  consisting  of  the  commerzienrath,  his  brother- 
in-law  the  steuerrath,  the  steuerrath's  lady,  and  Fraulein 
Duff.  The  commerzienrath  came  to  meet  me  with  out- 
stretched hand,  crying  in  his  loud  voice  that  he  was  unspeak- 
ably delighted  to  welcome  his  dear  young  friend  to  his  house. 

"  To  be  sure  I  have  had  you  in  my  house  a  long  time  already," 
he  went  on,  after  he  had  grasped  my  hand — "  a  half  year 
already,  and  I  never  knew  it !  It  is  outrageous  ;  but  these 
girls  never  will  learn  reason.  For  the  merest  nothing  they 
will  make  a  secret  of  things  that  we  would  cheerfully  pay  a 
thousand  thalers  to  know." 

He  said  this  with  so  much  warmth  that  if  I  had  ever 
doubted  whether  he  had  really  known  that  I  was  in  his  es- 
tablishment, that  doubt  now  entirely  disappeared.  He  had 
known  it  all  along,  but  had  no  interest  in  appearing  to  know 
it  until  I  could  be  of  real  profitable  use  to  him. 

Perhaps  it  was  this  observation  that  made  me  receive  so 
coolly  the  friendly  protestations  of  the  rich  man  ;  but  I  had 
to  smile,  and  I  felt  real  pleasure  when  now  the  kind-hearted 
Fraulein  DufF  put  down  the  tea-pot,  at  which  she  had  been 
officiating,  and  came  gliding  towards  me  with  a  coy  smile 
upon  her  thin  lips,  and  her  eyes  lifted  to  express  the  emo- 
tions of  her  soul.  She  held  out  her  hand  with  the  fingers 
bent  and  drooping,  in  precisely  the  style  of  a  tragedy-queen 
who  expects  it  kissed  by  a  loyal  vassal.  But  the  good  lady 
was  thinking  of  nothing  of  the  sort ;  it  was  merely  her  way 
of  offering  her  hand  ;  and  I  took  the  thin  pale  hand  and 
pressed  it  cordially,  though  cautiously.  The  sensitive  na- 
ture of  the  excellent  Fraulein  felt  at  once  the  sincere  good- 
22* 


514  UitJnmcr  and  Am'il. 

feeling  that  my  pressure  implied,  and  she  returned  it  with 
nervous  force,  her  pale  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  she  whis- 
pered up  to  reach  my  ear  :  "  Do  not  be  annoyed,  and  do  not 
be  angry  with  her  ;  it  is  not  hate,  it  is  maidenly  coyness; 
do  not  despair — wait  and  trust — seek  faithfully "' 

Friiulein  Duff  had  not  time  to  complete  her  favorite  phrase, 
for  the  commerzienrath  turned  again  to  me  and  drew  me 
to  tlie  table,'by  which  the  steuerrath  and  his  lady  had  been 
standing  straight  as  candlesticks  from  the  moment  I  en- 
tered the  room  without  moving  from  their  places,  like  a  pair 
of  wax-figures  in  a  cabinet. 

"  You  have  no  idea  how  glad  my  brother  and  sister-in-law 
are  to  see  you  again  !"'  said  the  commerzienrath,  malicious 
joy  sparkling  in  his  small  glittering  eyes. 

"  Delighted  !"  said  the  steuerrath,  offering  me  two  fingers 
of  his  long  white  hand,  which  I  did  not  take. 

"  Delighted !"  said  his  lady,  with  a  fixed  look  at  the  lamp 
on  the  table. 

I  was  not  especially  glad  myself,  so  T  did  not  say  so,  but 
T  looked  closely  at  the  amiable  pair,  whom  time  had  certainly 
not  passed  by  without  leaving  marks  upon  them.  The  steuer- 
rath's  high  forehead  was  now  bald  to  the  crown,  and  deep 
ugly  furrows  were  ploughed  in  his  long  smooth  aristocratic 
face.  His  eyes  seemed  to  me  smaller  and  more  expression- 
less, and  his  mouth  larger. 

Still  more  rudely  had  the  ungallant  years  dealt  with  the 
born  Kippenreiter.  Her  hair  indeed  was  thicker  and  more 
lustrous  than  of  old,  but  the  unkind  suspicion  that  she  owed 
this  gratifA^ng  luxuriance  to  the  beneficent  skill  of  the  per- 
ruquier  was  confirmed  at  a  second  glance.  Nor  had  her 
face  been  deprived  of  the  ingenious  resources  of  art :  her 
hollow  cheeks  were  flushed  with  a  bloom  too  delicate  to  be 
altogether  natural,  and  her  thin  pale  lips  disclosed  two  rows 
of  teeth  of  irreproachable  whiteness.  In  a  word,  the  Born 
had  made  herself  younger  by  twice  the  number  of  years  that 
had  passed  since  I  last  saw  her,  only  the  expression  of  her 
small  piercing  eyes,  which  could  not  possibly  be  worse,  had 
remained  the  same,  and  the  wide  red  ribbon  of  her  cap, 
which  she  tied  in  a  large  bow  under  her  chin,  apparently  to 
hide  her  hollow  cheeks,  nodded  at  every  word  she  spoke  in 
the  old  exasperating  way. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


3'0 


They  had  taken  their  seats  again  at  the  tea-table.  The 
commerzienrath  led  the  conversation  in  a  style  less  adapted 
to  the  gratification  of  his  brother-in-law  than  to  his  own  en- 
tertainment and  my  instruction.  So  I  learned  in  five  min- 
utes that  the  young  Prince  of  Prora  was  residing  at  Rossow 
again,  and   that   Arthur  was   keeping  him  company  in   his 

exile. 

"  For  it  is  an  exile,"  cried  the  commerzienrath  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  "  you  may  say  what  you  please  ;  I  know  it  from  Jus- 
tizrath  Heckepfennig,  whom,  as  his  'Justitiarii/s,  the  old 
prince  had  to  summon  to  the  family  council,  in  which  the 
question  was  handled  in  all  its  length  and  breadth,  whether 
his  son  should  or  should  not  be  declared  a  spendthrift.  The 
old  prince  at  last  yielded  so  far  as  to  grant  his  son  a  proba- 
tion of  half  a  year  more,  which  he  is  to  pass  in  the  country, 
while  they  make  some  arrangement  with  his  creditors.  A 
nice  position  for  a  prince,  is  it  not?" 

^"  Crowned  heads  are  seldom  happy,"  said  with  a  sigh 
Friiulein  Duff,  who  had  taken  her  seat  by  us  with  some  work 
in  her  hands. 

"  I  thought  that  princes  only  wore  hats,"  remarked  the 
commerzienrath  with  a  sardonic  grin,  "  though  of  such  mat- 
ters a  poor  plebeian  like  myself  is  incompetent  to  judge  :  you 
understand  those  things  better,  brother-in-law." 

"  Doubtless,  doubtless,"  replied  the  latter  absently. 

"  No  doubt  you  are  thinking  of  your  amiable  son,"  con- 
tinued the  commerzienrath,  "  and  whether,  for  a  young  man 
of  his  stamp,  a  better  companion  could  not  be  found  than  a 
young  prince  who  is  in  a  fair  way  to  ruin  himself.  I  can 
easily  understand  that  the  thought  causes  you  to  make  a  face 
like  a  tanner  who  sees  his  hides  floating  down  the  stream." 

"  Excuse  me,  brother-in-law,  but  I  was  not  thinking  of  Ar- 
thur at  that  moment,"  replied  the  steuerrath,  but  whether  the 
negotiations  for  the  sale  of  Zehrendorf,  which  you  have 
recently  opened  with  his  highness — and  which,  by  the  way, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  you  give  his  highness  credit  for 
more  acuteness  and  business  knowledge  than  your  words 
imply — will  come  to  any  result." 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  his  wisdom  or  his  folly  ?  " 
cried  the  commerzienrath.  "  Yes,  so  far  that  the  greater 
fool  he  is  the  dearer  will  I  be  able  to  sell  it  to  him.     But  I 


5i6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

am  not  sure  that  I  shall  have  my  daughter's  permission  to 
sell,  for  she  has  set  her  heart  upon  not  letting  it  pass  into 
other  hands.  To  be  sure  she  has  noble  blood  in  her  veins — 
is  that  not  so,  sister-in-law  ! — and  naturally  looks  at  the  mat- 
ter in  a  different  light  from  a  poor  rotiericr  like  myself  I 
might  have  sold  it  long  ago  to  Herr  von  Granow,  among 
others,  who  made  me  a  very  handsome  offer,  who,  as  one  of 
our  nearest  neighbors,  can  put  it  to  the  best  advantage.  But 
H ermine  insists  that  Frau  von  Granow  is  too  vulgar  a  per- 
son— of  course  she  is  not  a  Born  Anything,  sister-in-law,  for 
the  Born  can  never  be  vulgar,  can  they,  sister-in-law  ? — but 
what  I  was  going  to  say  is  this  :  Hermine  insists  that  I  shall 
not  giv'^e  her  such  a  successor  as  that.  But  good  heaven  ! 
she  will  fnid  nobody  she  thinks  worthy  of  it,  unless  it  be 
Herr  von  Trantow."  I 

"  How  is  he?  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  O,  very  well.  He  eats  and  drinks  and  sleeps:  why 
should  he  not  be  well .''  He  is  a  great  favorite  of  my  Her- 
mine ;  and  I  believe  she  could  find  it  in  her  heart  to  marry 
him  if  she  could  only  see  him  sober  once." 

At  such  horrible  words  Fraulein  Duff  could  only  clasp  her 
hands  and  cast  a  look  at  me,  while  the  steuerrath  and  his 
wife  exchanged  a  look  of  intelligence  with  the  quickness 
of  lightning.  I  observed  a  slight  encouraging  twinkle  of  the 
steuerrath's  eyelashes,  upon  which  followed  a  slight  attack 
of  coughing  on  the  part  of  the  Born,  and  then  the  following 
observation  : 

"  There  is  an  old  proverb,  my  dear  brother-in-law,  which 
always  comes  to  my  mind  when  I  hear  sportive  allusions, 
such  as  that  which  you  have  just  uttered." 

"  You  mean  that  '  we  shouldn't  paint  the  devil  on  the 
wall  ? ' '"  exclaimed  the  commerzienrath  ;  "  but  you  need  not 
be  uneasy  on  that  score,  for  even  if  the  devil  does  not  come, 
neither  will  your  Arthur  ;  no,  not  by  a  great  way  !  "  and  the 
commerzienrath  broke  into  a  boisterous  laugh  at  his  own  wit. 

"  I  am  conscious  of  my  innocence  of  all  covetous  plans  of 
that  sort,  brother-in-law,"  replied  the  Born,  whose  cheeks  at 
the  moment  had  no  need  of  any  supplementary  carmine. 

"  So  !  "  cried  the  commerzienrath.  "  Well  that  is  a  very 
good  thing.  Are  you  conscious  of  your  innocence  too, 
brother-in-law  ?     If  your  son  can  say  as  much,  then  you  are 


.     ,  Hammer  and  Anvil.  517 

all  three  conscious,  and  no  one  can  ask  more  of  you  than 
that.  Besides,  sister-in-law,  the  Trantows  are  so  old  a 
family,  that,  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  you  should  think 
twice  before  you  compare  the  last  descendant  of  their  race 
with  Old  Nick." 

"  If  family  antiquity  is  in  question,"  said  the  steuerrath, 
"  you  must  know,  brother-in-law,  that  while  it  is  true  that 
the  Trantows  trace  back  their  pedigree  to  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  Zehrens -" 

"  I  know  !  I  know  !  I  have  heard  it  a  hundred  thousand 
million  times  !  "  cried  the  commerzienrath,  hastily,  rising 
from  his  chair.  "  You  are  a  frightfully  old  family  ;  yes, 
sister-in-law,  frightfully  old  !  But  content  yourselves  ;  old 
as  you  are,  you  may  grow  a  year  or  two  older  yet.  And  now 
come  with  me  to  my  room,  my  young  friend,  and  let  us  have 
at  least  a  little  sensible  talk." 

He  preceded  me,  through  another  parlor  as  brilliantly 
lighted  as  the  first,  into  a  smaller  room,  which,  to  judge  by 
the  comfortable  horsehair-covered  furniture,  bookcases  with 
docketed  papers,  and  other  tokens,  was  his  own  especial 
apartment,  which  he  had  fitted  out  exactly  to  his  own  taste. 

Several  eminently  bad  copies  of  celebrated  old  masters, 
with  sundry  still  worse  originals  of  modern  date,  animal- 
pieces  and  landscapes,  covered  the  walls,  and  corresponded 
exactly  in  artistic  merit  with  several  busts  of  the  reigning 
sovereigns  and  other  princely  personages,  placed  appropri- 
ately or  inappropriately,  just  as  it  happened.  A  lamp  hung 
from  the  ceiling  over  a  round  table,  upon  which  were  various 
papers,  a  lighted  candle,  and  an  open  box  of  cigars. 

"Now,  ray  dear  young  friend,"  cried  the  commerzienrath, 
throwing  himself  into  a  chair  and  stretching  out  his  legs, 
which  time  had  made  still  leaner,  in  a  fashion  meant  to  ex- 
press supreme  comfort,  "  help  yourself ;  here  is  something 
superior,  just  from  Havana,  brought  me  by  one  of  my  cap- 
tains a  week  ago  ;  duty-free  as  I  have  them,  they  are 
'  worth  a  hundred  and  twenty  thalers,  between  brothers.  So  ! 
Now  what  do  you  think  of  that  ridiculous  old  ass  of  a  steuer- 
rath and  his  scarecrow  of  a  wife .''  They  have  been  spong- 
ing upon  me  now  for  three  weeks,  but  I  show  them  no  quar- 
ter ;  was  it  not  good  fun  1  " 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  found  it  so,  Herr  Commerzienrath," 


5t8  Hammer  atui  Am'il. 

"No?     Why  not?     You  must  be  hard  to  amuse." 

"  On  the  contrary,  Herr  Commerzienrath,  no  one  loves  a 
bit  of  harmless  fun  more  than  1  do  ;  but  I  cannot  find  it 
harmless  when  the  host — you  must  excuse  my  plain  speak- 
ing— makes  fools  of  his  guests,  be  they  who  they  may." 

"  So,  so !  This  is  something  new  !  "  said  my  host,  and 
fixed  an  evil  look  upon  me. 

"  Yet  it  is  a  very  old  doctrine,  Herr  Commerzienrath, 
known  and  practiced  in  the  earliest  times,  and,  as  I  am  told, 
still  sacredly  observed  at  this  day  by  even  the  rudest  nations 
— unless  indeed  thev  are  cannibals." 

''  Cannibals  is  good  !  Cannibals  !  very  good  indeed  !  " 
cried  the  commerzienrath,  throwing  himself  back  in  his  easy- 
chair  and  laughing  obstreperously,  as  though  he  had  not  but 
the  moment  before  been  on  the  point  of  quarrelling  with  me. 
"  Capital  !  How  do  j-ou  like  the  cigars  ?  I  want  your  honest 
opinion." 

"  By  no  means  so  superior,  if  you  insist  upon  a  candid  ex- 
pression of  my  opinion." 

"  Not — not  superior  ?  Well,  young  man,  you  must  be  hard 
to  please.  Such  a  cigar  as  this  nothing  superior !  When 
and  where  did  you  ever  smoke  a  better  ?  " 

And  the  commerzienrath,  with  an  appearance  of  intense 
enjoyment,  exhaled  the  smoke  slowly  through  the  nostrils. 

"  To  tell  you  the  candid  truth,  very  often  ;  but  I  must 
confess  that  I  am  a  little  dainty  in  this  particular  point. 
Probably  my  old  stay  at  Zehrendorf  made  me  fastidious." 

"1  dare  sav."  said  my  host,  with  a  sneer.  "He  could 
afford  it :  he  did  not  have  to  pay  duties  as  we  do." 

"  I  thought  you  said,  Herr  Commerzienrath,  that  these 
cigars  were  duty  free  ?" 

He  looked  at  me  again  as  if  strongly  moved  to  ring  for  a 
servant  to  turn  me  out  the  house.  He  did  not  ring,  however, 
but  said  : 

"So  !  If  you  are  such  a  judge  of  the  weed,  what  do  you 
estimate  these  to  be  worth  ?" 

"Twenty  thaiers  I  should  consider  a  full  price." 

"They  cost  eighteen  !"  cried  the  commerzienrath,  giving 
the  table  a  thump.  "  Why  should  a  man  set  costly  cigars 
before  his  guests  until  he  knows  whether  they  can  appreciate 
them  or  not  ?     And  now  I  will  give  you  some  that " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  5^9 

Are  worth  a  hundred  and  twenty  thalers,  between  broth- 


ers 


Exactly  so  !  exactly  so  !  you  ironical  fellow  !"  cried  the 
little  old  man  as  he  sprang  up  and  took  from  a  cupboard  a 
box  containing  cigars,  of  which  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I 
never  smoked  better,  even  with  the  Wild  Zehren. 

My  amiable  host  had  been  brought  into  so  good  a  humor 
by  this  bit  of  comedy  that  he  insisted  on  having  in  a  bottle 
of  Steinberg  Cabinet,  from  which  he  replenished  my  glass 
with  great  liberality  while  he  only  sipped  at  his  own,  making 
pretence  all  the  time  of  drinking  glass  for  glass  with  me, 
both  from  this  and  a  second  bottle  which  he  had  in,  in  the 
course  of  the  evening.  I  had  seen  the  old  gentleman  behind 
a  bottle  in  my  earlier  days,  and  also  when  he  was  a  visitor 
at  the  superintendent's,  and  knew  that  he  was  what  used 
to  be  called  a  three-bottle-man ;  so  if  he  was  so  abstemious 
now  he  had  some  especial  reason  for  it.  Nor  was  this  rea- 
son long  concealed.  It  was  soon  evident  to  me  that  he 
wanted  to  make  me  talk,  and  to  get  at  my  sincere  opinions 
upon  a  multitude  of  things,  and  the  heavy  wine  of  a  noble 
vintage  was  to  assist  my  candor  if  it  faltered.  I  have  in 
later  years  too  often  seen  this  man  use  the  same  stratagem, 
in  similar  cases,  to  leave  me  any  doubt  of  the  accuracy  of 
the  observation  I  made  on  this  occasion. 

There  was  also  another  manoeuvre,  which  I  learned  now 
for  the  first  time,  in  which  this  old  man  of  business  was  a 
master.  It  was  this  :  leaning  far  back  in  his  chair,  his  eyes 
half  shut,  he  talked  in  an  apparently  disconnected  way  of 
this  and  that,  rambling  from  one  topic  to  another,  until  he 
suddenly,  like  a  flash,  touched  upon  the  point  which  he  had 
still  been  approaching  in  all  his  gjTations  without  his  hearer 
perceiving  it  He  hid  himself  in  a  black  cloud,  so  to  speak, 
as  the  cuttlefish  eludes  its  pursuers — only  with  this  difference, 
that  this  cunning  old  pike,  in  the  shape  of  a  royal  counsellor 
of  commerce,  used  this  stratagem  in  order  unexpectedly  to 
snap  out  of  his  cloud  at  an  unsuspicious  gudgeon. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  William  Kluckhuhn  showed  me 
to  my  room.  He  lighted  the  two  wax  candles  on  the  table 
before  the  divan,  asked  me  if  he  should  extinguish  the  hang- 
ing lamp,  to  which  I  assented,  and  inquired  at  what  hour  I 
wished  to  be  called  in  the  morning,  to  which  I  could  only  an- 


520 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


swer  that  I  had  the  habit  of  awaking  at  the  proper  time, 
and  then  left  me  with  a  most  respectful  bow,  which  stood  in 
ludicrous  contrast  to  the  extremely  free  and  easy  way  in 
which  he  had  received  me  but  U  few  hours  before. 

I  had  no  thought  of  sleeping  yet.  My  brain  was  swarm- 
ing with  thoughts  which  the  long  conversation  with  the 
master  of  the  house  had  excited  in  me  ;  my  heart  was  full 
of  tumultuous  emotions,  awakened  by  the  novel  position  in 
which  I  found  myself ;  and,  as  well  might  happen  in  such  an 
hour,  after  a  couple  of  bottles  of  heavy  wine,  and  in  an  en- 
tirely new  situation,  the  events  of  the  evening  arranged 
themselves  in  a  sort  of  wild,  fantastic  dance,  surrounding 
me  with  figures  now  graceful  and  now  grotesque — figures  of 
which  I  could  now  and  then  fix  one  for  a  moment :  the 
commerzienrath,  with  his  half-shut  eyes  and  his  sharp  pike- 
like snap  at  that  point  in  the  conversation  towards  which 
he  had  been  manoeuvring  all  the  while  ;  good  Fraulein 
Duff",  with  the  sentimental  quivering  of  her  sallow  eyelids  ; 
the  steuerrath,  with  the  white  crafty  face  and  the  white  slen- 
der hand  on  which  sparkled  his  immense  signet-ring  ;  the 
born  Kippenreiter,  with  the  false  teeth  and  the  false  smile  ; 
and,  lastly,  her  whom  I  had  not  seen,  and  yet  in  the  eye  of 
my  mind  perpetually  saw — her  in  whose  room  I  was,  who 
certainly  had  often  rested  in  this  corner  of  the  divan  where 
I  now  was  reclining — the  slight  elastic  form  of  the  beauteous 
young  maiden,  with  the  saucy  twitch  in  the  red  lips,  and  the 
sunny  light  in  the  cornflower-blue  eyes. 

And,  stranger  than  all  this — behind  this  foreground  of 
scenes  and  figures,  changing  like  the  forms  of  a  kaleidoscope, 
and  shifting  like  wreaths  of  mist,  there  arose  a  background 
of  the  circumstances  with  which  I  had  to  do  for  the  moment, 
and  which  I  believed  that  I  penetrated  in  their  most  secret 
relations,  as  if  an  enchanter  had  given  me  that  magic  un- 
guent with  which  if  one  anoint  his  eyes  he  can  see  all  the 
treasures  that  sleep  in  the  depths  of  the  earth.  Once  before 
ill  my  life  had  I  had  a  similar  feeling  :  on  that  day  after  my 
arrival  at  Zehrendorf  when  I  strolled  in  the  afternoon  in  the 
park  and  under  the  softly-rustling  trees,  in  the  sight  of  the 
venerable  castle  over  which  sunshine  and  shadow  were  chas- 
ing each  other,  I  knew  on  a  sudden  that  the  master  of  this 
park  and  this  castle  was  a  desperate  smuggler.    And  just  so, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  521 

or  nearly  so,  I  just  now  felt  an  intuitive  conviction  that  this 
new  house  stood  upon  as  treacherous  a  foundation,  which 
might  at  any  moment  cave  in  and  bury  the  proud  and  envied 
fortune  of  the  man  under  the  ruins  of  a  gigantic  bankruptcy. 
And  yet  for  such  an  inference  I  had  apparently  no  ground 
whatever.     And  even  as  before  the  thought  seemed  to  me 
just  as  extravagant,  just  as  insane  ;  but  I  did  not  reproach 
myself  as  before  ;  I  rather  sought  in  all  earnestness  to  find 
the  points  which  had  possibly  given  rise  to  a  suspicion  so 
ridiculously  at  variance  with  the  splendor  of  this  room,  the 
magnificence  of  the  house,  with  everything  which  from  child- 
hood I  had  heard  of  the  wealth  of  our  provincial  Croesus. 
What  could  it  have  been  ?     A  peculiar  quiver  in  his  voice  as 
he  spoke  of  the  immense  stock  of  corn  in  his  warehouses  from 
the  previous  harvest,  and  of  the  unexampled  fall  in  the  price 
of  bread-stuffs  owing   to  the  altered   position  of  affairs  in 
England;  —  this    and    the    nervous    excitability   which    he 
showed  when  I  pointed  out  to  him  the   necessity  of  enlarg- 
ing the  machine-works  in  the  city  to  double  their  present 
extent,  if  he  did  not  wish  to  be  hopelessly  distanced  in  the 
competition  with  other  establishments  on  the  introduction  of 
the  railway  system  into  our  country.     A  third  point  was  his 
urgent  wish,  to  which  he  continually  recurred,  to  sell  Zehren- 
dorf  for  as  high  a  sum  as  possible — he  spoke  of  five  hun- 
dred thousand  thalers — to  Prince  Prora. 

The  strange  thought  had  almost  taken  my  breath,  so  I 
went  to  the  window  and  looked  dreamingly  out  upon  the 
garden,  whose  gravelled  walks  and  dark  beds  and  shrubbery 
were  dimly  defined  in  the  pallid  moonlight. 

"  Why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  "  I  said  to  myself,  holding  with 
a  sort  of  pertinacity  to  my  unreasonable  fancv.  "  And  if  it 
were  so,  would  it  not  be  a  righteous  Nemesis  ?  Those  old 
freebooter  knights  kept  on  their  evil  courses  so  long,  and 
despised  the  signs  of  the  time  so  thoroughly,  that  at  last  the 
time  turned  against  them  and  flung  them  off,  as  a  spirited 
horse  hurls  from  the  saddle  the  rider  who  has  lost  his  stir- 
rups. And  in  our  time  the  dead  ride  fast,  and  this  man  here, 
the  shop-keeper,  who  has  mounted  the  knight's  charger,  I 
reckon  already  among  the  dead.  Shameless  rapacity  and 
naked  selfishness— have  these  not  been  the  food  of  the  one 
as  of  the  other.?     Have  they  not  both  borne  as  motto  on 


522  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

their  shields  :  '  All  for  me — I  for  myself? '  Has  any  one  of 
them  ever  thought  of  the  poor  people,  except  to  press  hard 
upon  it,  by  way  of  feeling  that  it  is  there  ?  Ay,  is  it  not 
more  than  mere  chance  that  that  criminal  traffic  into  which 
the  freebooter  threw  himself  merely  to  gain  his  living,  be- 
came the  means  by  which  the  shopkeeper  amassed  his  riches  ? 
Has  he  not  just  told  me,  with  a  chuckle  of  satisfaction,  how 
adroitly  his  father  and  he  availed  themselves  of  the  fabu- 
lously advantageous  opportunities  afforded  by  Napoleon's 
continental  embargo,  and  how  they  had  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness for  years  and  years,  and  made  thousands  and  thou- 
sands, and  how  they  slipped  out  of  it  at  the  very  moment  it 
began  to  grow  hazardous?  Is  it  not  just,  then,  that  the 
shopkeeper  who  turned  freebooter  should  have  his  part  in  the 
same  fate  that  befell  the  freebooter  turned  shopkeeper  ? — 
only  that  the  lordship  of  the  former  will  not  endure  so  long 
as  that  of  the  latter,  and  rightly  so,  for  *  the  dead  ride 
fast.'" 

I  looked  up  to  the  night  sky,  where  a  keen  night  wind 
was  driving  great  masses  of  black  cloud  from  west  to  east 
across  the  shining  disc  of  the  moon  now  near  the  full. 
Strange  fantastic  figures  ;  long  trailing  dragons  with  ex- 
panded jaws,  colossal  fishes  with  greedy  ro\vs  of  teeth,  hor- 
rible crustacean  shapes  with  long  nippers  and  crooked 
crawling  legs,  giants  with  heads  towering  high  and  bearing 
masses  of  rock  in  their  uplifted  arms,  cunning  hunchbacked 
dwarfs  with  protruding  gluttonous  paunches — monsters  and 
deformities  of  all  sorts,  and  not  a  single  bright  fair  figure. 
In  a  strange  freak  of  fancy  I  seemed  to  see  in  these  fright- 
ful clouds  the  races  of  men  who  had  held  dominion  upon 
earth,  and  borne  the  sceptre  and  the  trenchant  sword,  who 
had  had  no  pity  for  the  oppressed  multitude  whose  life  they 
drained,  until  it  was  like  that  attenuated  green-gray  film  tim- 
idly floating  under  the  giants,  which  no  sooner  came  into  the 
bright  neighborhood  of  the  moon  than  it  dispersed  and  dis- 
solved away.  Should  it  go  on  so  in  unbroken  succession  for- 
ever? Must  race  of  oppressors  follow  race  of  oppressors 
without  end  :  the  knights  of  the  hammer  ever  smite  upon  the 
wretched  anvil  ?  Would  that  time  never  come — that  other 
time,  that  better  time — which  the  eye  of  my  glorious  teacher 
had  seen  in  vision,  to  hasten  whose  coming  he  had  given  his 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  523 

life,  and  to  which  I  had  devoted  myself  with  all  the  might 
of  my  soul  ? 

"  It  will  come,  be  assured  this  time  will  come,"  I  said. 
"  Is  it  not  come  even  now  ?  Is  it  not  already  within  your- 
self, since  you  have  recognized  that  it  will  and  must  come  ? 
Is  it  not  already  in  all  those  who  think  as  you,  and  have  the 
power  to  give  their  thoughts  form  and  color  and  flesh  and 
blood  ? 

"  Ah,  to  have  that  power  !  Were  it  not  a  glorious  thing 
to  be  master  here,  and  yonder  in  the  great  works,  and  in 
all  his  other  factories  and  stores  ?  To  be  able  to  be  a 
helper — a  benefactor  to  thousands  and  thousands — and  not 
to  be  it !  To  be  a  monster  with  vast  engulfing  jaws,  like 
that  hideous  spectre  up  yonder  in  the  clouds,  because,  as 
Doctor  Willibrod  says,  so  soon  as  we  attain  power  and  wealth 
Fate  hangs  a  flintstone  or  a  gold  nugget  in  our  breast 
instead  of  a  heart !  " 

I  closed  the  window,  lowered  the  curtain,  and  went 
towards  my  bed.  But  the  train  of  thought  I  had  been  follow- 
ing had  escaped  me,  and  I  stopped  and  surveyed  once  more 
all  the  magnificence  of  the  luxurious  room. 

"  And  to  all  this  she  has  been  accustomed  from  her  child- 
hood," I  said  to  myself.  "  Upon  such  soft  carpets  has  her 
dainty  foot  always  trod ;  her  hand  has  always  touched 
fabrics  of  this  voluptuous  texture  ;  she  has  always  breathed 
this  perfumed  atmosphere.  And  if  shameless  selfishness 
should  meet  with  such  a  fate  as  brutal  arrogance — this  house 
should  fall  as  fell  that  older  one — it  would  be  hard,  cruelly 
hard  for  her.  The  other  called  me  once  her  George,  her 
dragon-slayer.  But  she  did  not  wish  to  be  rescued,  and  I, 
still  half  a  boy,  could  not  have  rescued  her.  With  this  one 
it  might  perhaps  be  otherwise  ;  perhaps  she  would  rather  be 
rescued  than  perish — and  in  any  event,  I  am  no  longer  a 
boy." 

And  here  my  eye  fell  upon  the  little  mangy  seal-skin  port- 
manteau which  William  Kluckhuhn  had  carefully  placed  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed  whose  voluminous  curtains  he  had  looped 
back,  and  I  had  to  laugh  aloud.  For  it  was  ridiculous, 
when  I  possessed  hardly  more  than  was  contained  in  this 
little  shabby  wallet,  a  borrowed  one  at  that,  to  talk  of  rescu- 
ing a  house  like  this — to  worry  my  brains  about  the  fate  of 


524 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


men  who  lived  in  a  house  like  this  !  So  I  betook  myself  to 
bed,  and,  as  I  was  just  falling  asleep,  awakened  myself 
again  by  laughing  at  something — I  did  not  know  what. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


BUT  when  I  awoke  the  next  morning  at  early  dawn  I 
knew  what  it  was.  It  was  the  embroidered  ribbon 
which  I  had  discovered  the  evening  before  in  the 
bunch  of  flowers,  and  in  which  my  fancy,  half  asleep,  seemed 
to  catch  a  delightful  solution  of  all  the  enigmas  that  sur- 
rounded me  here  :  but  now,  with  senses  wide  awake,  I  saw 
nothing  in  it  but  a  bit  of  sentimental  silliness  on  the  part  of 
good-hearted  Fraulein  Duff.  Still  a  feeling  of  disquiet 
seized  me  that  compelled  me  to  get  up  and  dress  myself 
hastily.  A  pair  of  sparrows  that  had  their  nest  somewhere 
close  at  hand  under  the  eaves  began  an  animated  conversa- 
tion, and  then  stopped  suddenly,  finding  that  it  was  earlier 
than  they  had  supposed. 

So  I  found  it  myself  :  when  I  stepped  to  the  window,  with 
the  ribbon  in  my  hand,  I  could  not  distinguish  the  gold  let- 
ters of  the  embroidery  from  the  blue  ground  of  the  silk.  I 
was  vexed  at  myself  for  my  childish  curiosity.  Had  I  come 
here  to  puzzle  at  riddles  ? 

But  I  held  the  ribbon  still  in  my  hand  as  the  sky  began  to 
grow  brighter  and  the  first  rosy  morning  light  tinged  the 
eastern  clouds.  Already  I  could  distinguish  the  garden 
beds  from  the  gravelled  walks  beneath  me,  and  in  the  beds 
even  the  yellow  crocuses  from  the  blue  hyacinths,  and  now 
again  I  looked  at  the  magic  ribbon  and  could  plainly  read 
the  motto  I  so  well  knew. 

"Anyhow,"  I  said  to  myself,  "whether  it  be  meant  in  ear- 
nest or  in  joke  ;  whether  it  be  the  silly  sentimentality  of  the 
duenna  or  a  saucy  jest  of  the  maiden,  it  is  a  good  word  and 
I  will  lay  it  to  heart.  I  will  seek  faithfully  :  and  as  for  what 
I  shall  find,  I  will  not  puzzle  my  brains  beforehand  with 
guessing." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  525 

I  took  the  ribbon  with  me,  that  it  might  not  meet  the  pry- 
ing eyes  of  William  Kluckhuhn,  and  left  the  room.  Passing 
through  the  roomy  house,  where  darkness  and  silence  still 
reigned  through  all  the  carpeted  corridors  and  stairs,  I 
sought  and  found  a  door  leading  from  the  lower  hall  into  the 
open  air. 

It  was  a  small  side-door,  like  that  which  in  the  old  house 
opened  into  the  neglected  back-yard.  The  back-yard  had  dis- 
appeared, of  course,  and  everything  else  was  so  changed  that 
I  found  myself  in  an  entirely  new  and  strange  region.  But 
I  soon  discovered  that  it  was  not  merely  that  all  things  were 
here  new  and  different,  but  that  they  were  in  perfect  contrast 
to  the  old.  While  the  ruinous  and  obviously  uninhabitable 
old  castle  had  towered  aloft  in  great  masses,  bare  of  all  orna- 
ment, the  new  building  presented  itself  of  moderate  size  but 
judiciously  proportioned,  evidently  planned  for  comfort  and 
convenience,  and  in  a  neat  if  not  altogether  pure  style  of 
architecture.  The  court-yard,  with  kitchen  and  other  out- 
buildings which  formerly  had  adjoined  the  castle,  was  now 
removed  to  the  distance  of  a  hundred  yards  or  so,  and  the 
house  had  handsome  grounds  all  around  it,  adorned  with 
trees  and  shrubbery,  evidently  of  recent  planting.  The 
intention  was  to  separate  a  small  blooming  oasis,  the  centre 
of  which  was  the  house,  from  the  rest  of  the  ground  devoted 
to  cultivation — a  pretty  device,  which  would  only  require 
twenty  years  or  so  for  its  perfect  realization. 

A  new  time  had  come  altogether.  In  what  brilliant  new- 
ness glittered  the  tiled  roofs  between  the  young  poplars  1 
To  the  right,  where  formerly  wide  fallow  lands  had  in  vain 
waited  for  cultivation,  broad  fields,  green  with  young  grain, 
now  shone  in  the  sunlight;  and  further  to  the  right — a 
strange  and  almost  incredible  sight  in  this  region — fiirther 
still  to  the  right  was  a  cluster  of  red  brick  buildings,  from 
the  midst  of  which  sprang  a  gigantic  chimney  sending  out  a 
black  cloud  of  smoke  against  the  bright  morning  sky.  This 
was  the  distillery,  built  about  two  years  before,  and  for  which 
we  had  delivered  some  machinery  in  the  course  of  the  past 
winter.  As  I  judged,  the  park  must  formerly  have  extended 
to  that  spot ;  and  now  there  was  not  a  tree  to  be  seen,  not  a 
tree  anywhere,  as  I  satisfied  myself  by  walking  around  the 
house  until  I  reached  that  part  of  the  grounds  which  I  had 


526  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

seen  from  my  window.  I  convinced  myself  that  this  must 
have  been  the  place  of  the  great  lawn  ;  but  in  vain  did  my 
eye  seek  for  the  circle  of  magnificent  beeches  surrounding 
this  expanse  of  waving  grass.  As  far  as  the  hills  which  one 
crossed  to  reach  the  promontory  all  the  woods  had  been 
cleared  away,  and  the  stumps,  which  were  everywhere  left 
standing,  gave  the  ground  the  look  of  a  vast  neglected  grave- 
yard. Here  and  there  were  well-cleared  spaces  where  they 
had  begun  new  plantations,  but  the  young  trees  looked 
poorly,  and  by  no  means  promised  to  yield  such  trunks  as 
those  which  were  still  lying  in  some  places  among  the 
stumps,  but  already  cut  into  lengths. 

I  went  on  along  the  well-kept  road  which  ascended  the 
hills  towards  the  promontory,  following  nearly  the  direction 
of  the  old  path  which  led  through  the  forest  to  the  tarn. 
This,  then,  must  have  been  its  place ;  this  circular  hollow, 
at  the  bottom  of  which,  nearly  overgrown  with  grass,  were 
still  some  small  pools  of  black  water.  The  story  used  to 
run  that  this  gloomy  tarn  was  of  unfathomable  depth,  and 
now  behold  at  the  deepest  place  it  was  not  over  thirty  feet ! 
They  had  simply  cut  the  bank  on  the  side  towards  the  coast 
and  let  the  water  off,  in  order  to  obtain  the  compost  formed 
by  the  leaves  which  for  centuries  had  fallen  into  it  and  sunk 
to  the  bottom.  The  manure  was  doubtless  very  serviceable 
to  the  exhausted  fields  ;  but  they  had  made  a  frightfully  ugly 
place  of  what  used  to  be,  in  its  mysterious  loneliness  and 
seclusion,  the  sweetest  spot  in  all  the  forest.  A  single  one 
of  the  old  giants  had  been  left  standing  midway  up  the 
slope.  It  was  an  immense  beech,  the  growth  of  centuries, 
which  I  believed  I  recognized  again,  though  it  looked 
strangely  standing  there  alone.  And  I  was  not  mistaken  : 
upon  its  bark  I  found  in  letters  nearly  overgrown,  but  still 
legible,  my  name  and  a  date,  the  date  of  the  day  on  which, 
in  that  sunny  autumn  morning,  I  first  saw  Constance  von 
Zehren  under  this  very  tree. 

It  was  a  singular  chance  that  of  all  the  stately  trees  just 
this  one  had  been  left  standing. 

A  feeling  of  sadness  begun  to  arise  in  my  breast,  but  I 
suppressed  it,  and  looked  up  to  the  cheerful  blue  sky.  That 
morning  was  fair,  but  the  leaves  were  already  falling,  and  the 
winter  that  was  to  sweep  away  all  the  beauty  already  stood 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  527 

at  the  door ;  while  to-day  the  morning  was  as  fair,  and  it 
was  spring,  and  the  long  sunny  summer  days  were  coming, 
the  days  of  work  of  which  the  harvest  would  not  fail. 

"  Yes,"  I  said  to  myself,  as  I  strode  actively  up  the  hill 
and  along  the  crest  of  the  promontory,  "  yes,  that  world  had 
to  pass,  with  its  rustling  forests,  its  mysterious  dark  lakes 
of  ancient  time,  its  crumbling  castles,  its  ruinous  courts,  and 
fields  all  lying  fallow.  Even  you  had  to  go,  old  ruin  of  a 
tower,  gray  with  antiquity,  and  make  way  for  this  little 
pavilion,  from  whose  windows  there  must  be  a  lovely  outlook 
over  the  unchangeable  sea." 

Here  it  was  the  tower  had  stood.  A  gay  butterfly  had 
alighted  on  the  spot  where  the  fierce  eagle  had  so  long  had 
its  eyrie.  I  walked  around  the  pretty  little  building,  of 
which  the  door  was  fastened  and  the  silk  curtains  of  the 
windows  lowered.  On  the  south  side  the  roof  projected, 
boldly,  and  under  it  were  several  tables  and  benches. 

While  I  sat  here,  leaning  my  head  on  my  hand  and  gazing 
at  the  landscape,  the  sun  rose — rose  out  of  the  sea  in  a 
blaze  of  tremulous  light ;  but  it  was  not  this  dazzling  bril- 
liancy that  compelled  me  to  close  my  eyes.  From  this  spot 
I  had  seen  the  sun  rise  once  before,  and  here,  where  I  was 
sitting,  sat  a  corpse  with  glazed  eyes,  on  which  lay  the  ever- 
lasting night,  staring  sightless  at  all  the  splendor. 

Once  more  I  resisted  the  sadness  that  threatened  to  un- 
man me.  This  was  all  past ;  it  should  not  return  to  darken 
the  day,  the  bright  day,  which  I  had  long  been  in  the  habit 
of  meeting  and  welcoming  as  a  precious  boon  from  heaven. 

I  arose  and  went  to  the  ravine  which  I  had  climbed  with 
the  Wild  Zehren  that  night  by  scarcely  accessible  paths,  and 
where  now  a  long  flight  of  stairs  led  easily  down  to  the  saw- 
mill of  which  the  commerzienrath  had  spoken  to  me  the  even- 
ing before,  and  whose  clatter  I  could  now  hear  coming  up 
from  the  depths.  It  was  a  small  but  admirably  planned 
arrangement,  and  had  done  its  duty  so  well  that  the  whole 
Zehrendorf  forest,  except  a  very  trifling  remainder,  had  been 
cut  up  by  its  saws. 

"  I  wish  we  had  not  gone  ahead  quite  so  fast,"  said  the 
foreman,  whom  I  found  in  the  mill ;  "  for  in  cutting  down 
the  forest  we  cut  off  the  water  also,  so  that  we  can  only  work 
one  day  out  of  three,  and  cannot  begin  to  fill  the  orders  that 


528  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

come  in  from  all  quarters.  Now  the  commerzienrath  has 
set  the  example,  all  are  following  it,  and  are  felling  timber 
at  such  a  rate  that  soon  there  will  not  be  a  tree  to  be  seen 
on  this  part  of  the  island.  I  have  often  told  the  commer- 
zienrath what  would  be  the  result ;  but  he  would  not  listen 
to  me,  and  now  he  must  suffer  for  it." 

"  A  small  steam  engine  would  help  the  difficulty,  would  it 
not  ?"  I  asked. 

'•  Yes ;  but  you  see  water  is  cheaper  than  steam.  But  the 
profits  never  came  in  fast  enough,  so  be  killed  the  goose  for 
the  sake  of  the  golden  ^.g^.  All  that  understood  the  matter 
advised  him  not  to  clear  off  all  the  wood  at  once,  but  to 
leave  enough  to  protect  the  undergrowth  from  the  winds  that 
blow  too  strong  up  there  on  the  height.  Now  nothing  will 
grow  on  the  bare  soil  thoroughly  dried  by  the  wind,  as  you 
probably  noticed  if  you  came  over  the  ridge  from  the  castle. 
No,  no  ;  you  can't  treat  nature  as  you  please :  she  is  not  so 
patient  as  men." 

The  foreman  was  a  small  man  with  a  shrewd  thoughtful 
face.  He  was  born,  as  he  told  me,  on  another  part  of  the 
island,  and  knew  the  country  and  the  people  well,  but  had 
not  long  been  in  this  region.  I  introduced  myself  to  him  as 
the  person  who  was  to  set  up  the  new  machinery  in  the 
chalk-quarry,  and  asked  him  his  opinion  of  this  undertaking. 

"  It  will  not  turn  out  much  better  than  this,"  he  replied, 
"  though  for  another  reason.  The  quarry  has  always  been 
a  tolerably  productive  one,  but  the  commerzienrath  took  the 
notion  that  he  had  only  to  quarr}'-  deeper  and  it  would  yield 
more  abundantly.  It  has  yielded  in  great  abundance — water, 
which  will  ruin  the  whole  quarry  if  your  machinery  cannot 
get  the  upper  hand  of  it." 

"  That  is  an  ugly  state  of  things,"  I  said,  seriously  dis- 
turbed by  what  he  told  me. 

"  It  is  indeed,"  he  answered. 

"  And  the  kilns,"  I  asked  again,  "  can  you  give  no  better 
report  of  them  ?  " 

The  man  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  There  are  several  things  to  be  said  on  that  subject. 
The  arrangements  are  good  enough,  but  immensely  too  ex- 
pensive, and  the  transportation  is  too  heavy  in  winter  upon 
our   frightful   roads.      And  even  during  the  summer  they 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  529 

sometimes  come  to  a  stand-still,  because  all  along  the  coast 
here  our  communication  with  the  sea  is  so  bad  ;  although 
the  commerzienrath  has  had  a  great  breakwater  built  with 
the  stones  of  the  old  tower.  You  can  see  it  from  here— 
there  where  that  line  of  surf  is.  But  we  might  get  along  if 
the  commerzienrath  knew  how  to  make  himself  liked  among 
the  people." 

"  How  so  ?  "  I  asked. 

The  man  looked  at  me  with  some  hesitation  from  under 
his  bushy  eyebrows. 

"  You  may  speak  quite  openly,"  I  said.  "  But  a  few  days 
ago  I  was  no  more  than  an  ordinary  workman  in  the  com- 
merzienrath's  machine-shops,  and  have  not  lost  my  sympathy 
with  my  comrades  in  this  short  time." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  to  speak  freely,  my.  notion  of  the  mat- 
ter is  this  :  the  people  about  here,  the  seafaring  men  as  well 
as  the  cotters,  and  those  in  the  villages  on  the  coast  and  up 
the  country,  all  look  upon  the  commerzienrath  as  a  man  who 
has  pushed  himself  into  a  place  where  better  men  than  him- 
self have  sat  and  should  sit.  As  to  their  being  better,  there 
may  be  two  sides  to  that  question ;  but  I  am  not  speaking 
my  own  thoughts,  but  those  of  the  people.  Then  many  of 
them  remember  that  the  commerzienrath  was  not  always  the 
rich  man  he  is  now  ;  and  what  is  the  worst,  two  or  three 
know  very  well  how  he  got  together  such  a  monstrous  heap 
of  money,  for  he  worked  for  it  himself,  and  risked  his  skin 
in  the  year  '10,  and  thereabouts,  when  there  were  queer 
doings  along  this  coast  and  up  as  high  as  Uselin  and  Wol- 
dom.  Why,  not  so  many  years  ago  there  was  a  grand  hunt 
made  here  after  smugglers,  of  which  perhaps  you  may  have 
heard  something.  Well,  all  that  might  have  been,  and 
nobody  think  anything  the  worse  of  the  commerzienrath  for 
it,  if  he  were  a  man  to  live  and  let  live,  and  who  tried  to 
make  up  for  anything  he  had  done  amiss,  and  did  not  bear 
too  hard  on  the  poor  men.  But  he  is  just  the  opposite  of 
that.  He  grinds  and  drives  them  all  he  can,  and  only  thinks 
of  how  much  work  is  to  be  got  out  of  them,  as  they  have 
got  to  work.  But  he  is  mistaken.  They  work  for  him,  it  is 
true  ;  but  only  such  of  them  as  can  get  nothing  else  to  do  ; 
and  what  sort  of  workmen  they  are,  and  the  kind  of  work 
they  do,  you  know  as  well  as  I  could  tell  you." 

23 


530  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  I  see,"  I  said. 

A  workman  came  up.  New  logs  were  to  be  laid  for  saw- 
ing, and  the  foreman  must  be  there.  I  shook  his  hand. 
He  looked  at  me  with  his  melancholy  eyes,  and  said  with  a 
smile  : 

"  You  have'  me  now  in  your  power  if  you  choose  to  tell 
the  commerzienrath  what  you  have  heard  from  me.  But  it 
is  no  matter  :  in  any  event  I  shall  not  stay  here  much 
longer.'' 

"  I  am  sorr}-  to  hear  you  say  so,"  I  answered.  "  I  trust 
on  the  contrar}-  we  shall  have  many  a  friendly  talk  together, 
and  hit  upon  more  than  one  good  plan  between  us.  Don't 
throw  away  your  musket  too  soon  ;  there  is  a  better  time 
coming  I  fancy.'' 

The  man  looked  at  me  in  some  surprise,  but  answered 
nothing,  and  went  into  the  mill,  while  I  descended  the  stairs 
all  the  way  down  to  the  strand. 

Here  lay  my  sea,  my  dearly  loved  sea,  which  I  had  always 
greeted  with  tears  of  joy  when  a  dream  carried  me  to  the 
shore  and  it  lay  before  me  in  all  its  grandeur  and  beauty. 
Rolling  in  they  came,  the  great  glorious  waves  with  white 
breaking  crests,  flinging  the  foam  of  the  surf  to  my  feet ; 
and  when  thej^  rolled  back  there  was  a  fierce  roar  from  the 
millions  of  pebbles  grinding  together  on  the  beach.  Over 
the  chalk-clififs  above  me  a  pair  of  gylls  wheeled  in  lazy  flight, 
and  in  the  offing  glittered  the  sails  of  two  fishing-boats  which 
were  bound  home  after  heavy  night-work.  With  what  an- 
ticipation I  had  looked  forward  to  seeing  once  more  what  I 
had  not  seen  for  so  long,  and  I  saw  it  almost  with  indifference. 

But  it  was  not  my  fault.  My  feelings  were  as  strong  as 
ever,  and  my  heart  had  not  grown  so  much  older  in  the  eight 
or  nine  years  ;  but  I  could  not  drive  away  the  anxious 
thoughts  aroused  by  the  words  of  the  honest  intelligent  fore- 
man of  the  mill. 

How  accurately  his  views  tallied  with  the  observation 
which  I  had  made  during  my  morning  walk  !  With  what  a 
sharp  outline  he  had  sketched  the  portrait  of  the  commer- 
zienrath, just  as  I  had  always  known  him,  and  as  he  appeared 
last  night.  Then  he  was  full  of  boasting  and  bragging  in 
how  short  a  time  he  had  trebled  and  quintupled  the  value  of 
the  estate,  and  all  that  he  was  doing  for  the  people  around. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  53  t 

He  had  meant  to  show  Messieurs  the  noblemen,  who  in  mat- 
ters of  farming  were  all  some  fifty  years  behind  the  time, 
what  a  man  of  business  like  himself  could  make  out  of  a 
ruined  estate.  This  was  the  only  real  interest  he  took  in  the 
whole  business,  and  if  the  young  prince  had  a  fancy  to  the 
property  he  had  better  hasten  his  decision  or  he  would  come 
too  late. 

Five  hundred  thousand  thalers — half  a  million  !  How  was 
such  a  sum  to  be  got  out  of  it  "i  The  estate  was  of  vast  ex- 
tent, it  was  true,  and  exhausted  and  ruined  as  it  was  at  the 
Wild  Zehren's  death,  was  still  worth  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand, and  at  this  price  the  commerzienrath  took  it  at  the  set- 
tlement. Now  when  it  was  in  a  better  state  of  cultivation, 
when  all  the  buildings  were  new,  a  handsome  residence  built, 
and  the  various  industrial  arrangements,  even  if  not  doing 
so  well  as  was  hoped,  still  enhanced  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty, it  might  be  worth  twice  the  money  ;  but  on  the  other 
hand  all  the  valuable  timber  was  cut  down  and  sold — I  could 
not  raise  it  to  that  price,  reckon  as  I  might ;  there  was  al- 
ways more  than  the  half  that  I  could  not  account  for.  If 
the  commerzienrath's  statements  of  his  affairs  were  all  as 
loose  as  this — in  just  the  same  proportion  he  had  over-esti- 
mated the  value  of  his  machine-works  in  Berlin,  in  our  talk 
the  previous  night — if  he  only  played  the  millionaire  because 
perhaps  he  had  once  been  one ;  if  he — I  paused,  looking  out 
at  the  sea,  and  drew  a  long  breath.  Again,  in  this  clear 
morning,  here  in  the  fresh  sea-air,  the  gloomy  presentiment 
came  over  me,  that  yesterday  evening  in  the  close  room  I 
had  held  for  the  offspring  of  my  excited  fancy,  heated  with 
the  fiery  wine  ;  and  once  more,  as  yesterday,  my  thoughts  re 
verted  to  the  fair  girl,  the  wayward,  envied  heiress  of  wealth, 
which  possibly  had  no  existence  but  in  her  father's  idle  boast- 
ing. 

"  But,  after  all,  what  does  it  concern  me  ?  "  I  said  to  my- 
self, as  I  waded  with  rapid  strides  through  the  deep  sand  of 
the  beach  ;  "  it  does  not  concern  me  at  all ;  not  the  least." 

At  my  feet  lay  a  large  fish  which  the  waves  must  just  have 
flung  ashore.  It  seemed  dead,  but  showed  no  marks  of  in- 
jury ;  its  expanded  gills  were  still  brilliantly  r^d  ;  probably 
the  surf  had  dashed  it  against  a  rock,  or  a  bk»K  from  the 
paddle  of  a  seal  stunned  it.     I  carried  it,  not  without  wetting 


532  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

my  feet,  over  the  great  stones,  and  threw  it  into  deeper 
water.  It  floated,  turning  up  its  white  belly.  "  Poor  creat- 
ure," I  said,  "  I  would  fain  have  helped  you ;  now  the  gulls 
will  eat  you  j  your  death  furnishes  them  a  feast." 

"  And  how  did  the  dead  fish  concern  me  .''  ''  I  went  on 
philosophizing,  as  after  knocking  the  wet  sand  off  my  boots, 
I  pursued  my  way.  "  Not  in  the  least,  either.  A  man 
should  have  in  his  breast  the  heart  of  one  of  these  gulls, 
with  sharp  talons,  and  a  strong  keen  beak,  and  hack  gaily 
into  every  prey  that  a  favoring  wave  casts  up  on  the  strand. 
George,  George,  be  ashamed  of  youVself !  But  it  all  does 
no  good  ;  I  cannot  make  myself  other  than  I  am.  But 
neither  can  I  make  others  different  from  what  they  are. 
The  commerzienrath  for  instance :  could  I  ever  teach  that 
man  the  doctrines  of  my  master  .''  The  doctrine  of  love — of 
mutual  help?  Never.  Or  at  least  only  if  I  could  prove 
that  his  profit  went  with  it  hand  in  hand  :  that  he  will  work 
his  own  ruin  if  he  makes  rapacity  the  ruling  principle  of  his 
life.  Did  not  my  teacher  predict  all  this  to  me }  The  turn 
of  this  man  and  those  like  him  is  now  come  :  they  are  now 
the  knights  of  the  hammer :  it  is  the  old  game  in  a  some- 
what different  form.  And  he  added — and  a  bright  light 
glowed  in  his  splendid  eyes, — '  It  will  not  be  long  before 
our  time  comes,  we  who  have  comprehended  that  there  is  a 
justice  that  cannot  be  mocked.' 

"  '  That  time — our  time — it  will  never  come,'  Doctor 
Willibrod  used  to  say,  '  or  only  for  him  who  can  conquer  it, 
and  hold  it  fast  by  the  fluttering  robe,'  " 

A  gull  gave  a  hoarse  cry  overhead  :  I  looked  up  and  saw 
something  white,  like  the  skirt  of  a  dress,  fluttering  above 
the  bushes  fringing  the  cliff  which  here  was  steep  and  at 
least  fifty  feet  high.  It  was  not  a  dress,  it  was  a  veil  which 
floated  from  the  hat  of  a  horsewoman,  for  presently  I  saw 
the  hat  itself,  then  the  head  of  the  horse,  and  soon  the  rider 
herself,  or  at  least  her  head  and  shoulders  for  a  moment,  as 
she  leaned  over  to  look  down  at  the  narrow  strip  of  beach. 

It  gave  me  a  beating  of  the  heart — it  looked  so  very  dan- 
gerous, although  I  knew  that  it  was  not  quite  so  dangerous 
as  it  seemed  from  below :  and  I  called  out  to  her  to  take 
care ;  but  she  hardly  could  have  heard  it.  Her  white  veil 
had  disappeared,  and  my  heart  beat  still  more  strongly — it 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  533 

was  Paula's  fault  if  I  could  not  look  on  calmly  and  see  the 
fair  Hermine  fall  fifty  feet  down  a  precipice,  even  though  it 
were  ihto  my  arms. 

"  Kow  now,"  I  cried,  in  scorn  to  myself,  "  is  there  any- 
thing more  to  rescue  or  to  protect  ?  Cunning  old  commer- 
zienraths,  stupid  dead  fishes,  pretty  capricious  girls — it  is 
all  the  same  to  you,  if  you  can  only  burn  your  fingers  or  wet 
your  feet  for  your  trouble.  How  long  has  it  been  since  you 
hastened  along  this  beach  with  the  Wild  Zehren  at  your  side 
and  the  coast-guard  on  your  heels  ?  You  might  still  see  the 
foot-prints  if  winds  and  waves  had  not  effaced  them  ;  but 
stupid  idiot  that  you  are,  you  can  find  the  old  track  without 
that !  " 

Thus  I  chided  myself,  and  made  up  my  mind  to  return  at 
once  to  the  house  and  there  to  tell  the  commerzienrath  that 
I — no  matter  for  what  reason — had  resolved  to  return,  and 
nothing  could  induce  me  to  stay.  And  while  I  formed  this 
resolution,  which,  if  carried  into  effect,  would  have  changed 
the  whole  course  of  my  life,  and  therefore  was  not  to  be,  I 
was  already  looking  with  awakening  interest  at  the  arrange- 
ments at  the  chalk-quarry,  which  lay  before  me,  in  a  moder- 
ately deep  ravine,  as  I  turned  a  sharp  angle  of  the  cliff.  It 
would  have  been  worse  than  unbecoming  if  I  had  so 
abruptly  abandoned  the  work  which  I  had  been  sent  for  and 
had  come  expressly  to  carry  out. 

So  I  ascended  the  wooden  staircase  which  ran  up  the 
chalk-cliff  until  I  reached  a  small  platform,  where  behind 
the  watchman's  hut  was  the  opening  to  the  galleries  which 
had  been  pushed  horizontally  into  the  chalk,  and  which 
could  not  now  be  worked  further  because  they  had  come 
upon  springs  of  water  which  they  were  in  vain  trying  to  mas- 
ter with  rude  temporary  pumping  machinery. 

"  And  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  your  machines  will  do 
it,"  said  the  old  weatherbeaten  overseer,  who  showed  it  to 
me. 

"  But  how  did  it  happen  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  How  did  it  happen?  "  echoed  he,  shrugging  his  shoul- 
ders— "  Why  you  see,  behind  the  chalk,  which  comes  just  to 
here — "  we  were  walking  on  the  top  of  the  cliff,  and  took 
hold  of  a  stake  driven  into  the  ground  as  a  mark — "  there  is 
a   stratum  of  sand,  old  sea-sand  and  dune-sand,  which  runs 


534  Hammer  and  Anvil.         .  '--■  ! 

alongside  the  chalk  at  about  the  same  depth,  and  at  the 
other  end  reaches  the  great  morass  where  it  sucks  up  the 
water  like  a  sponge.  We  all  knew  that  very  well,  but  the 
master  would  not  beli«ve  it,  and  thought  we  wanted  to  cheat 
him  out  of  his  profits  when  we  advised  him  to  go  no  deeper 
on  that  side,  when  the  chalk  happened  just  there  to  be  espe- 
cially fine.     Now  he  has  to  suffer  for  it." 

Just  the  same  thing  that  the  foreman  in  the  saw-mill  had 
said,  and  both  seemed  to  be  intelligent  honest  men,  who 
took  a  siac«i«  jatiSFest  in  the  prosperity  of  the  works  and 
were  really  grieved  at  their  ill  success.  Why  had  he  not 
followed  their  advice  while  it  was  yet  time  ?  Why  ?  For 
the  same  reason  that  he  had  steadily  opposed  all  Doctor 
Sn^lM&'s  proposition  for  the  formation  of  beneficial  and 
burial  societies  j  for  the  same  reason  that  he  had  scornfully 
rejected  the  suggestions  of  our  manager  to  raise  the  wages 
of  the  workmen  in  proportion  to  the  "increased  cost  of  living. 
It  was  always  the  same  reason :  boundless  selfishness,  which 
gazes  on  the  one  object  of  its  desires  with  such  greedy  eyes  that 
it  can  see  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  and  is  at  last 
dazzled  and  blinded  to  its  own  real  interests. 

"  Now  he  has  to  suffer  for  it,"  the  old  man  repeated,  as  if 
in  confirmation  of  my  thoughts,  then  turned  slowly  away 
and  descended  the  wooden  stair  which  led  from  the  edge  of 
the  cliff  down  to  the  quarry. 

I  remained  alone,  in  profound  thought,  as  if  the  creation 
of  a  new  world  had  been  entrusted  to  me.  And  was  there 
not  a  world  to  create  here,  of  which  as  yet  only  the  founda- 
tion had  been  laid  ?  Sawmills,  chalk-quarries,  lime-kilns,  the 
draining  of  the  great  morass — what  might  not  have  been 
made  of  all  these  undertakings  ?  Nay,  what  might  not  still 
be  made  of  them,  if  they  were  taken  up  in  the  right  spirit 
and  with  the  right  intention  ? — the  intention  of  providing  for 
the  poor,  perishing,  wretched  people  here,  new  and  permanent 
sources  of  subsistence.  One  had  only  to  win  their  confi- 
dence by  letting  them  see  that  while  they  seemed  to  be 
working  for  their  employer,  they  were  really  working  for 
themselves. 

" If  I  were  but  master  here !"     •  -.-,.-     • 

From  the  point  where  I  stood,  I  could  overlook  a  good 
part  of  the  country ;  my  view  extending  to  the  left  up  as  far 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  535 

as  the  heights  of  Zehrendorf,  and  on  the  right  descending  to 
the  great  morass  and  along  the  line  of  coast  as  far  as  Zanowitz, 
whose  miserable  huts  were  visible  here  and  there  between 
the  barren  dunes.  And  I  saw  in  fancy  the  waste  land  wav- 
ing with  golden  harvests,  the  great  moor  drained  and  giv- 
ing placebo  rich  meadows  on  which  grazed  great  herds  of 
cattle,  while  handsome  fishing-smacks  sailed  out  from  the 
wretched  village,  now  the  port  of  a  rich  and  fruitful  territory. 

Once  before  I  had  had  a  similar  dream,  and  once  before 
my  eyes  had  roved  over  this  land  and  my  fancy  would  have 
created  a  paradise,  if  such  p.  power  resided  in  fancies  or  in 
wishes.  Since  then  many  a  year  had  passed;  I  was 
another  man,  richer  in  understanding  and  sagacity,  stronger 
in  will ;  must  it  still  remain  only  a  longing  wish  ?  Must  I 
again,  as  so  often  before  in  my  life,  stand  with  empty  hands 
before  the  famishing  who  were  crying  for  bread  } 

And  as  I  walked  backwards  and  forwards  on  the  cliff, 
thinking  and  thinking  how  I  should  get  away,  for  go  away  I 
must,  suddenly  the  white  veil  that  I  had  before  seen  flutter- 
ing from  the  summit,  now  fluttered  over  the  bushes  that 
edged  the  beach  to  my  right.  I  heard  the  rapid  tread  of  a 
galloping  horse  on  the  sandy  road  behind  the  bushes,  and 
in  the  next  moment  the  rider  came  round  the  corner  upon  a 
handsome  black  horse,  with  an  enormous  yellow  mastiff 
galloping  by  his  side  with  an  almost  equal  length  of  stride. 
The  instant  the  lady  saw  me,  \nth  a  quick  firm  hand  she 
swerved  the  well-trained  horse  to  one  side,  but  the  dog 
came  bounding  to  me  with  evidently  hostile  intentions.  As 
I  was  ready  for  him  the  moment  he  sprang  at  me,  I  clutched 
him  by  the  throat  and  one  fore-leg,  and  hurled  him  to  the 
ground. 

"  Leo  !  Leo  !  "  cried  Hermine,  urging  on  her  horse  with 
whip  and  rein.     "Here,  Leo  !     Down,  Sir  !  " 

But  Leo  had  prudently  decided  to  beat  a  retreat  after  the 
failure  of  his  attack.  It  seemed  that  in  my  haste  I  had 
handled  him  rather  roughly,  for  he  limped  slowly  towards  his 
mistress,  whining  and  holding  up  his  right  fore-paw. 

"  Served  you  right,"  said  she,  bending  down  to  pat  him. 
"  How  could  you  be  so  stupid  as  to  attack  that  gentleman  ? 
Don't  you  know  he  can  conquer  lions  ?  " 

She  said  this  in  a  tone  through  which  there  evidently 


53^  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

enough  pierced  a  certain  scorn,  and  a  trace  of  contempt,  or 
vexation,  or  pride,  or  all  together,  lay  upon  her  beautiful 
lips,  as  she  now  looked  at  me  sharply  with  her  large  clear 
blue  eyes,  as  1  bowed  in  salutation,  and  said : 

"  You  need  not  be  surprised,  sir  :  the  dog  has  been  trained 
to  protect  his  mistress.  I  do  not  know  for  what  he  can  have 
taken  you." 

These  unfriendly  words  were  also  spoken  in  a  very  far 
from  kindly  tone,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  an  elegant  young 
gentleman  who  should  be  thus  treated  by  a  beautiful  girl 
would  in  all  cases  preserve  the  repose  of  manner  that  marks 
his  caste. 

But  I  only  saw  in  the  f;iir  Amazon  who  behaved  so  haugh- 
tily, the  pretty  blue-eyed  girl  of  nine  or  ten  years  before, 
when  we  used  to  tease  each  other  ;  so  I  felt  in  nowise 
wounded  by  her  behavior,  and  I  fear  that  I  very  calmly  re- 
marked that  at  the  worst  the  dog  could  only  have  taken  me 
for  a  workman,  and  that  I  hardly  supposed  he  had  been 
trained  to  attack  a  class  of  persons  as  useful  as  they  were 
numerous. 

At  this  answer,  which  was  probably  not  of  the  nature  she 
expected,  she  looked  at  me  with  an  embarrassed  indignant 
glance,  and  said,  with  more  temper  than  logic : 

"  I  do  not  know  why  you  should  be  taken  for  anything 
else,  since  you  are  always  occupied  with  such  useful  and  im- 
portant matters  that  of  course  you  cannot  care  about  your 
external  appearance,  as  do  we  small  every-day  people.  The 
last  time  I  had  this  pleasure,  you  looked,  if  I  remember 
right,  like  a  chimney-sweeper ;  and  now — for  the  sake  of 
contrast  probably — you  present  yourself  in  the  garb  of  a 
miller." 

I  glanced  down  at  myself,  involuntarily,  and  perceived 
that  in  creeping  about  in  the  narrow  galleries  of  the  chalk- 
quarry,  I  had  rubbed  my  broad  shoulders  and  other  project- 
ing angles  of  my  person  against  the  walls,  and  that  with  great 
white  patches  all  over  my  clothes,  I  did  really  present  a 
singular  and  ludicrous  appearance.  I  took  off  my  hat,  and 
said  with  a  profound  bow,  turning  to  the  dog  who  was  now 
sitting  on  his  haunches  with  an  air  of  extreme  despondency, 
holding  up  his  damaged  fore-paw  : 

"  I  most  heartily  beg  pardon,  and  I  solemnly  promise  that 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  537 

if  I  have  the  happy  fortune  to  meet  you  again,  I  shall  appear 
as  neat  as  it  is  po'ssible  for  soap  and  brush  to  make  me, 
when  I  trust  you  will  have  as  little  doubt  of  my  friendly  in- 
tentions as  I  have  of  yours." 

"  Come,  Leo '!     Come  along  if  you  can  ;  or  else  stay  where 

you  are." 

She  gave  her  horse,  who  had  been  impatiently  tossing  his 
head  and  pawing  the  sand,  so  sharp  a  cut  across  the  neck 
that  he  bounded  with  surprise  and  went  off  at  full  gallop. 
The  dog  galloped  after,  as  fast  as  his  available  legs  would 
carry  him. 

I  did  not  feel  that  in  this  odd  rencontre,  which  almost 
seemed  a  combat,  I  had  come  off  second  best.  I  believe  I 
even  looked  after  her  as  she  galloped  off  and  her  white  veil 
quickly  disappeared  behind  the  bushes,  with  a  kind  of 
triumphant  smile,  and  muttured  to  myself,  "  '  The  first  best 
man  ' — in  truth  the  man  were  not  to  be  pitied  who  should 
be  the  first  and  best  for  you  !  " 

It  was  time  that  I  had  returned  to  the  house,  where  the 
commerzienrath  was  certainly  awaiting  me  by  this  time.  So 
I  walked  rapidly  back  from  the  cliffs,  along  a  road  too  well 
known  to  me  of  old,  which  led  between  the  morass  on  the 
left  and  the  heath  on  the  right,  in  the  direction  of  Tranto- 
witz,  where  quite  near  the  house  a  path  branched  off  through 
the  fields  to  Zehrendorf.  I  do  not  know  how  it  happened, 
but  my  meeting  with  the  pretty  girl  who  exhibited  so  much 
hostility  to  me,  without  bringing  me  really  to  believe  in  its 
sincerity,  had  entirely  restored  my  good  humor. 

All  things  that  had  seemed  to  me  so  gloomy  and  fraught 
with  evil,  now  appeared  in  a  more  cheerful  light.  Here 
was  certainly  a  possibility  of  doing  good  on  a  large  scale  ; 
and  I  blessed  my  star  that,  as  it  seemed,  it  had  fallen  to  my 
lot  to  bring  this  possibility  to  a  reality.  The  commerzien- 
rath, if  not  a  good,  was  at  least  a  shrewd  man,  who  would 
not  act  against  the  interests  of  others  when  he  was  shown 
"  that  these  interests  ran  parallel  with  his  own.  And  who  was 
better  prepared  to  give  him  this  proof  than  I — I,  whose  dis- 
interestedness he  must  be  convinced  of,  and  who,  heaven 
knows  why,  rejoiced  in  his  regard  for  me,  so  far  as  such  a 
feeling  could  be  said  to  exist  in  his  cold  breast.  It  is  possi- 
ble that  he  only  liked  me  because  he  needed  me,  or  thought 
23* 


53^  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ^ 

he  did.  Be  it  so  :  I  must  make  myself  necessary  to  him, 
and  I  believed  I  could  do  this :  and  then  let  the  fair  Her- 
mine  treat  me  as  superciliously  as  she  pleased,  I  stood  firmly 
on  my  feet  and  could  hold  my  head  as  high  as  nature  had 
placed  it. 

So  I  strode  valiantly  along  the  narrow  path  to  the  gap  in 
the  alder  thicket  which  here  grew  between  the  moor  and  the 
heath ;  the  same  gap  through  which  I  had  fled  with  the  Wild 
Zehren  on  that  night  nine  years  before.  Once  more  I  bat- 
tled with  my  sad  recollections,  for  I  had  firmly  resolved  to 
meet  the  present  as  it  was,  and  let  the  past  be  past.  How, 
indeed,  without  this  resolution,  could  I  ever  have  brought 
myself  to  return  to  this  place  ?  And  the  sun  was  shining  so 
brightly  in  the  blue  sky,  and  the  birds  singing  so  merrily  in 
the  branches  whose  buds  were  now  beginning  to  open,  and 
in  the  bushes  that  were  now  in  full  leaf ;  in  the  brown  water 
of  the  ditches  and  pools  long-legged  water-beetles  were  gaily 
rowing  about,  and  in  the  distance,  in  the  Trantowitz  woods 
apparently,  resounded  the  call  of  the  cuckoo.  No  ;  one 
could  not  be  melancholy  on  so  bright  a  day ;  and  when  I 
thought  of  the  pretty  angry  face  of  the  charming  girl,  I  could 
not  refrain  from  laughing  so  loud  that  a  man,  who  had  been 
lying  asleep  in  the  young  grass  on  the  edge  of  a  trench 
under  the  overhanging  boughs  of  an  alder  a  few  paces  from 
me,  raised  himself  slowly  on  his  elbow  and  stared  at  me,  as 
I  came  round  the  thicket,  with  great  astonished  blue  eyes. 
I  only  needed  one  look  at  these  good-natured  big  blue  eyes 
— "  Herr  von  Trantow  !"  I  cried — "  Hans,  my  dear  Hans  !  " 
and  I  held  out  my  hands  to  my  old  friend,  who  in  the  mean- 
time had  risen  to  his  feet,  and  offered  me  his  great  brown 
knightly  hand  with  a  friendly  smile. 

"  How  are  you  dear  friend  }  "  I  said.  | 

"  As  usual,"  he  answered. 

It  was  the  old  tone,  but  it  was  no  longer  the  old  Hans. 
His  blue  eyes  were  more  expressionless,  his  brown  cheeks 
sunken,  and  his  formerly  well-shaped  handsome  nose  was 
red  and  swollen  ;  and  when  we  seated  ourselves  side  by  side 
on  the  edge  of  the  trench,  and  he  took  off  his  cap,  I  saw 
that  his  thick  dark-blond    hair  was  greatly  thinned. 

"  I  knew  that  you  would  come,"  he  said,  taking  flint  and 
steel  from  his  hunting  pouch  and  lighting  a  cigar,  after  first 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  539 

supplying  me :  "I  was  to  go  there  to  dinner  to-day,  but  I 
do  not  know  whether  I  should  have  gone ;  so  I  am  all  the 
more  glad  that  I  have  met  you  here.  I  had  much  rather 
be  here." 

And  he  puffed  great  clouds  of  smoke  from  his  cigar  and 
gazed  at  the  water  in  the  trench,  where  the  lively  long-leg- 
ged water-beetles  were  busily  rowing  about 

"  Much  rather,"  he  repeated. 

"  And  are  you  still  living  as  lonely  as  ever  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Naturally,"  said  Hans. 

"  I  do  not  find  that  so  natural,"  I  replied,  with  some  an- 
imation, for  Hans's  whole  appearance  and  voice  bespoke  a 
carelessness  and  desolation  which  cut  me  to  the  heart — "  by 
no  means  natural.  What!  k  man  like  you,  a  dear,  good, 
brave  fellow  like  you,  go  mooning  and  wasting  his  life  in 
solitude  because  a  coquette  has  chosen  to  lead  him  in  her 
string  for  a  year  or  so  ?  Yes,  Herr  von  Trantow,  a  heartless 
coquette,  who  never  was  worth  the  regards  of  an  honest  man 
and  now — no,  she  is  hardly  worth  our  compassion.  I  can 
tell  you,  I  have  learned  that  truth  to  my  cost" 

"  So  have  I,"  said  Hans. 

"  I  know  it" 

Hans  shook  his  head  as  if  to  say,  that  is  not  what  I  mean. 
I  knew  of  old  how  to  translate  his  gestures. 

"  Have  you  seen  her  since  ?  "  I  asked. 

He  nodded. 

"  Where  and  when  ? " 

"  Eight  or  nine  years  ago,  in — ^what  do  they  call  the  hole  ? 
—Naples." 

"  That  was  the  time  that  you  disappeared  from  here,  and 
no  one  knew  what  had  become  of  you." 

"Yes,"  said  Hans. 

"In  Naples?" 

"Yes." 

It  quite  taxed  the  imagination  to  fancy  Hans  von  Trantow 
in  Naples,  the  northern  bear  among  the  southern  jackals, 
and  a  most  urgent  impulse  must  it  have  been  which  drove 
him  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  his  life  from  the  Penates 
of  his  ruined  home,  and  his  native  heaths  and  moors,  out 
into  the  wide  world. 

It  was  in  December  nine  years  before — I  had  then  been  a 


540  Hatmner  and  Anvil.  ■      j 

month  in  detention  under  examination — that  Hans  had  re- 
ceived a  letter  which  caused  him  to  lay  game-bag  and  gun 
aside — he  was  just  going  out  shooting — harness  up  his 
sledge  and  drive  ofif  to  Fahrdorf,  where  he  crossed  the  ice  to 
Uselin,  and  from  Uselin  travelled  day  and  night,  until  after 
many  hinderances — he  at  first  thought  he  must  look  for  Na- 
ples in  Turkey,  and  only  found  the  right  direction  after  ex- 
treme difficulties  and  some  lost  time — at  the  end  of  about  a 
month  he  happily  reached  the  city  he  was  in  search  of. 
Here,  after  some  trouble — for  the  good  Hans  spoke  and  un- 
derstood no  language  but  his  own  honest  German — he  dis- 
covered the  hotel  mentioned  in  the  letter,  and  found  her 
whom  he  was  looking  for.  But  not  as  he  expected  to  find 
her  ;  not  as  the  letter  had  represented  her.  She  had  spoken 
of  herself  as  "  betrayed,"  "  forsaken,"  one  who  looked  to 
him  as  her  only  refuge,  her  preserver  frorri  the  direst  misery 
and  a  certain  death.  Hans  had  naturally  taken  all  this  lit- 
erally, and  was  somewhat  astounded  to  find  her  in  one  of 
the  grandest  hotels  on  the  Toledo,  in  luxuriously  furnished 
apartments,  and  splendidly  dressed,  looking  more  lovely 
than  ever,  though  not  a  little  confused — indeed,  even  turning 
pale — at  sight  of  him.  She  had  probably  not  supposed  that 
her  appeal  would  receive  so  instantaneous  a  response,  and 
that  she  would  have  no  notice  beforehand,  and  in  conse- 
quence she  was  taken  unprepared.  So  it  had  to  be  that  a 
German  princess,  who  was  really  in  Naples  at  the  time,  had 
interested  herself  in  her,  and  insisted  that  the  daughter  of  so 
ancient  and  distinguished  a  family  should  accept  her  assist- 
ance. But  the  favor  of  the  great  is  inconstant,  and  often 
clogged  with  conditions  hard  to  be  complied  with  by  a  proud 
spirit.  The  princess  had  demanded,  as  the  price  of  her 
favor,  that  Constance  should  marry  off-hand  a  certain  young 
Baron,  who,  it  was  said,  had  stood  a  little  too  high  in  the  ex- 
alted favor  of  the  princess  herself;  and  she,  Constance,  was 
one  of  those  who  may  err,  and  err  grievously,  but  will  never 
act  against  the  voice  of  their  heart. 

This  story  the  fair  Circe  had  told  the  true-hearted  Hanp, 
with  many  tears  and  sighs,  and  blushes  and  smiles,  and 
convulsive  sobbings,  and  he,  who  did  not  possess  the 
sceptical  spirit  of  the  much-enduring  man,  believed  every 
word,  and  had  returned  to  his  modest  lodgings,  pondering 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  541 

and  racking  his  brain  to  find  out  what  he  could  do  to  help 

her. 

To  marry  her  was  out  of  the  question.  A  Trantow  could 
take  no  woman  to  wife  who  was  not  as  chaste  as  he  himself 
was  brave ;  not  though  she  were  a  hundred  times  fairer  and 
he  had  loved  her  a  hundred  times  more  dearly.  But  to  share 
with  her  what  he  had,  to  protect  her  and  care  for  her  and  do 
for  her  what  in  a  similar  case  a  brother  might  do  for  an  un- 
fortunate but  dearly  loved  sister — this  Hans  could  do  and 
would  do ;  and  the  next  morning  he  went  to  lay  his  plans 
before  her.  But  in  the  night  Circe  had  taken  other  counsel, 
and  left  her  palace  under  the  protection  of  the  aforesaid 
young  Baron,  who  in  reality  stood  in  no  connection  whatever 
with  the  high  lady  she  had  referred  to,  but  in  a  v^xy  intimate 
one  with  young  Piince  Prora,  and  since  the  young  prince 
had  left  Naples  a  month  before,  by  his  father's  orders,  in 
quite  an  intimate  relation  to  Constance  herself,  who  had  been 
transferred  to  him  as  an  equivalent  for  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  which  the  prince  had  lost  to  him  at  play.  So  at 
least  Hans  was  told — and  much  beside  which  he  neither 
asked  nor  wanted  to  know — by  a  German  waiter  at  the  hotel, 
who  seemed  to  have  taken  a  very  active,  if  not  very  credita- 
ble part  in  the  whole  affair.  As  Hans  had  not  come  to 
Naples  to  lounge  along  the  Toledo,  or  visit  Capri,  or  climb 
Vesuvius,  he  shook  the  dust  from  his  feet  and  set  out  on  his 
homeward  journey.  But  the  good  faithful  fellow  did  not  get 
far.  The  unusual  exertion  and  excitement  of  so  long  a  jour- 
ney made  in  such  furious  haste,  the  change  of  climate  and 
mode  of  living,  the  fiery  Italian  wine,  which  from  old  habits 
he  had  drunk  in  great  quantity,  and  more  than  all  else  the 
deep  grief  at  this  second  atrocious  treachery,  which  was  far 
worse  than  the  first,  were  too  much  for  even  his  strong  con- 
stitution, and  one  day  a  compassionate  vettiirino  brought  to 
the  gate  of  a  monastery  near  Rome  a  traveller  who  had  fal- 
len sick  by  the  way,  and  who  really  seemed  to  have  reached 
the  end  of  all  his  journeys. 

But  it  was  not  fated  that  the  good  Hans  should  exhale  his 
free  brave  soul  in  the  narrow  cell  of  a  Roman  monastery  ; 
despite  the  extremely  irrational  treatment  of  Fra  Antonio, 
the  celebrated  physician  to  the  convent,  he  recovered,  and 
in  six  weeks  could  walk  about  the  garden.     The  garden  was 


542  Hammer  and  Amtt'l. 

a  very  fine  one,  with  a  magnificent  view  of  the  Eternal  City, 
and  the  monks,  if  not  particularly  clean,  were  very  kind  and 
hospitable,  and  very  urgently  pressed  the  worthy  Hans  to 
consider  whether  it  would  not  be  for  the  welfare  of  his  soul 
to  return  no  more  to  his  barbarian  home,  but  come  rather  to 
the  bosom  of  the  true  Church,  to  die  perhaps,  if  it  were  heaven's 
will,  some  day  in  that  very  monastery  in  the  odor  of  sanctity. 
A  singular  proposal  to  the  good  Hans,  who  in  his  life  had 
never  given  a  moment's  thought  to  the  present  or  future 
welfare  of  his  soul  ;  but  it  was  quite  clear  to  him  that  how- 
ever salutary  it  might  be  for  his  immortal  part,  to  follow  the 
counsel  of  the  good  fathers,  he  would  have  in  doing  so  to 
renounce  all  the  comfort  of  his  life.  The  convent  wine  was 
right  good  of  its  kind,  but  it  had  a  peculiar  flavor  to  which 
he  could  never  get  accustomed,  any  more  than  he  could  to 
seeing  the  trees  in  blossom  at  the  end  of  February,  as  if  at  this 
time  there  were  no  keen  gusty  north-east  wind  in  the  world,  and 
no  pine-woods  whose  boughs  bent  with  their  weight  of  pen- 
dent icicles  ;  and  when  one  night  a  comforting  dream  had 
conveyed  him  to  Trantowitz,  and  by  the  feeble  light  of  the 
northern  stars  and  of  the  snow  had  let  him  shoot  six  hares 
in  his  cabbages  out  of  his  bedroom  window,  there  was  no 
holding  him  any  longer  after  he  awoke  ;  he  shook  the  brown 
dirty  hands  of  his  friendly  hosts,  one  after  the  other,  received 
the  Prior's  benediction  upon  his  heretical  head,  and  returned 
to  his  old  home. 

All  this  Hans  told  me  in  his  monotonous  way,  while  we 
sat  on  the  edge  of  the  trench.  And  the  long-legged  beetles 
shot  back  and  forth  in  the  brown  water,  and  the  birds  twit- 
tered in  the  branches,  and  the  call  of  the  cuckoo  came  from 
the  far-off"  woods. 

I  felt  very  sad.  I  believe  I  should  have  been  less  affected 
if  Hans  had  exhibited  the  least  emotion  in  the  recital  of  the 
most  ev^entful  and  certainly  most  painful  passage  of  his  life ; 
but  of  this  there  was  not  the  slightest  trace.  He  felt  no 
hatred  towards  Constance,  no  grudge  against  the  young 
prince,  who  was  now  living  at  Rossow  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  :  in  all  that  he  said  there  lay  a  perfect  resig- 
nation, an  utter  hopelessness ;  and  this  it  was  that  made  me 
so  sad. 

There  was  a  rustling  in  the  coppice  behind  us,  and  an  old 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  543 

pointer  trotting  up  greeted  first  Hans  and  then  me  with  a 
melancholy  wag  of  his  tail. 

"  God  bless  me !  that  is  not  Caro,  is  it  ?"  I  asked. 

"  Yes  it  is,"  said  Hans.     "  I  believe  he  knows  you." 

"Poor  old  fellow!"  I  said,  patting  the  dog;  "  and  does  he 
still  do  his  duty.?" 

"  So,  so,"  said  Hans.  "  He  has  been  of  no  use  with 
pheasants  for  a  long  time ;  and  with  ducks,  that  used  to  be 
his  great  point,  he  will  not  go  into  the  water  any  more,  so 
that  I  usually  have  to  get  them  myself.  But  that  is  only 
natural :  we  are  neither  of  us  so  young  as  we  once  were." 

Caro  had  seated  himself  on  the  edge  of  the  trench,  staring 
with  pricked-up  ears  at  the  beetles  in  the  water,  and  evidently 
thinking  of  nothing  at  all  ;  Hans  sat  with  his  left  elbow 
propped  on  his  knee,  blowing  thick  clouds  from  his  cigar, 
also  staring  into  the  trench,  and  apparently  thinking  of  noth- 
ing also.  I  felt  sadder  and  sadder.  The  contrast  between 
the  active  life  I  had  just  been  picturing  to  myself,  and  the  mel- 
ancholy of  this  stagnant,  purposeless  existence,  was  too  great. 

"  Suppose  we  go,"  I  said,  suddenly  rising. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Hans,  slowly  following  my  example. 

Not  much  was  said  between  us  as  we  crossed  the  heath, 
until  we  reached  the  point  where  the  path  to  Zehrendorf 
branched  off  near  Trantowitz  whose  buildings  looked  for- 
lorner  and  more  dilapidated  than  ever. 

"  So  you  are  going  to  live  here  always,"  said  Hans,  as  we 
were  about  to  separate. 

"  Always  V  I  said.     "  How  came  you  to  think  that  ?" 

"  I .'"  he  said,  in  evident  surprise  that  I  should  suspect  him 
of  originating  any  idea^ — "  I  did  not  think  it :  Fraulein  Duff 
told  me  so." 

"  And  did  she  tell  you  why  I  was  to  stay  here  always  ?" 

"  Of  course  ;  and  \  wish  you  joy  with  all  my  heart." 

"  Wish  me  joy  of  what  ? "  I  asked,  taking  with  some  hesi- 
tation his  offered  hand. 

Hans  blushed  and  stammered,  "  Excuse  me  :  I  had  no  in- 
tention of  being  indiscreet ;  but  I  thought  it  was  no  secret, 
or  at  least  none  between  us." 

"  In  the  name  of  heaven,  what  are  you  talking  about  ?  "  I 
asked,  and  I  think  I  turned  even  redder  than  Hans,  if  that 
were  possible. 


S44  Hammer  and  Anvil.  [ 

"Why,  are  you  not  betrothed  to  Fraulein  Hermine  or 
about  to  be  ?  "  he  stammered  out. 

I  laughed  loud  ;  louder  than  any  one  who  laughs  honestly, 
and  Hans,  who  took  this  for  an  indirect  confession,  again 
seized  my  hand  and  said  : 

"  I  wish  you  joy  with  all  my  heart :  I  do  not  know  any  one 
in  the  whole  world  whom  I  would  so  gladly  see  win  her  as 
yourself.     And  the  people  here  need  a  good  master." 

He  pressed  my  hand  again,  and  then  went  on,  Caro  trot- 
ting after  him  with  drooping  head.  I  looked  after  them. 
"  Indeed,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  it  would  be  a  better  lot  than 
has  fallen  to  your  share,  you  good  faithful  fellow." 

I  turned.  There  lay  before  me  the  new  mansion  and 
grounds  of  Zehrendorf,  and  lower  down,  nearer  to  me,  there 
crouched  close  to  the  earth  the  same  little  dilapidated,  dirty 
cottages  that  I  remembered  of  old  ;  and  in  the  fields,  splen- 
did in  their  vernal  beauty,  I  saw  working  the  same  care- 
worn, poverty-stricken  men,  and  I  thought  of  all  I  had  seen 
and  heard  this  morning,  and  said  to  myself,  "  Yes,  indeed, 
you  need  a  good  master  !  " 

Then  I  walked  slowly,  almost  hesitatingly,  along  the  foot- 
paths through  the  green  corn-fields  to  Zehrendorf. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

I  HAD  now  been  more  than  a  week  at  Zehrendorf.     A  let- 
ter written  in   those  days  now  lies  before  me,  a  letter 
several  pages  long,  upon  which  there  are  spots  as  if 
tears  had  fallen  upon  the  paper,  and  yet  it  is  a  cheerful, 
even  a  merry  letter,  and  these  are  the  w^ords  of  it : 

"  Nobody  knows  better  than  you,  dear  Paula,  that  I  did 
not  come  here  to  amuse  myself ;  b^t  were  I  to  say  that  in 
all  these  days  I  have  done  little  else  than  amuse  myself,  or 
at  least  seem  to  be  doing  it,  I  should  tell  the  honest  truth. 
It  really  seems  as  if  ^  were  making  up  for  lost  time  by  per- 
petrating all  the  follies  I  have  left  undone  during  the  last 
nine  or  ten  years  ;  and  as  taking  my  earlier  exploits  in  that 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  545 

line  as  a  standard,  their  amount  and  magnitude  can  by  no 
means  be  insignificant,  so  my  incentives  to  achieve  them  are 
proportionately  strong.  They  still  tell  here  of  my  perfor- 
mances in  choral  singing  in  our  old  parties  on  the  water  ; 
of  the  dancing  parties  where  I  had  ever  the  most  inventive 
head  for  new  figures  in  the  cotillon,  of  the  walks  and  drives 
in  the  pine-wood,  where  I  was  the  leader  in  every  frolic,  and 
where  in  the  evening  the  darkness  of  the  forest  would  be 
lighted  up  by  the  fireworks  that  my  friend  z.x\d  protege,  Fritz 
Amsberg,  the  apothecary's  hunchbacked  apprentice,  used  to 
make  for  me  as  his  appointed  tribute.  Yes  indeed,  there  are 
persons  who  remember  only  too  well  my  exploits  in  those 
days  ;  and  what  is  the  worst,  somfe  of  these  live  in  my  im- 
mediate neighborhood,  and  are  but  too  ready  to  say  at  all 
times,  fitting  or  unfitting,  '  Don't  you  remember,  George 
—excuse  me  for  calling  you  by  the  dear  old  name — don't 
you  remember  what  a  glorious  time  we  had  at  such  a  place, 
where  you  had  arranged  so  and  so  ? '  Not  once  in  ten  times 
can  I  remember  it,  and  then  only  vaguely ;  and  I  marvel 
at  the  extraordinary  tenacity  with  which  the  female  memory 
retains  certain  things,  which,  with  us  men,  the  rougher  waves 
of  life  ruthlessly  wash  away. 

"  Poor  Emilie  !  What  can  have  brought  her  here  ?  Quite 
unexpectedly  to  me,  I  can  assure  you,  and  by  no  means 
agreeably  either  ;  but  her  father,  my  great  enemy  of  old,  is 
yustitiarius  to  Prince  Prora,  and  the  commerzienrath's  soli- 
citor ;  and  as  the  prince  and  the  commerzienrath  are  still  in 
treaty  about  Zehrendorf,  nothing  of  course  can  be  done 
without  the  legal  factotum  of  the  two  high  contracting  pow- 
ers. Now  wherever  the  legal  factotum  is,  Fraulein  Emilie  is 
not  far  off,  especially  when  in  addition  to  business,  a  little 
innocent  pleasure  is  to  be  had,  as  here  with  us  in  the  country, 
where  business  and  pleasure,  whenever  possible,  go  hand  in 
hand.  And  now  too,  when  the  worthy  lady,  the  Frau  Jus- 
tizrilthin,  has  acted  so  unmotherly  as  to  leave  Emilie  '  a  help- 
less, unprotected  orphan,'  to  use  her  own  expression.  And 
wherever  Emilie  is,  one  has  not  to  look  far  for  our  mayor's 
lovely  daughter,  her  bosom-friend,  Elsie  Kohl,  Really  I 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  making  fun  of  these  poor  girls,  for 
in  truth  it  is  not  their  fault  that  they  have  never  been  out- 
side of  the  good  town  of  Uselin  and  its  three-mile  circuit  of 


546  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

estates  and  domains,  so  that  their  conceptions  of  the  world 
and  men's  doings  in  it  are  not  very  comprehensive,  but 
rather  a  little  confused  ;  and  especially  is  it  not  Friiulein 
Emilie's  fault  that  she  did  not  find  the  person  she  was  look- 
ing for — no,  I  ought  not  to  laugh  at  them  ;  and  yet  never 
could  I  have  believed  that  my  risible  faculties  could  be 
brought  into  such  play  as  happens  when  I  look  at  the  pair — 
the  two  Eleonoras  somebody  here  has  christened  them — clasp- 
ing each  other  in  a  girlish  embrace,  as  they  swim  into  the 
parlor  through  the  door  which  William  Kluckhuhn,  with  a 
malicious  grin  on  his  impudent  face,  has  obsequiously 
thrown  open  for  them.  The  attitude  has,  doubtless,  been 
most  carefully  studied  before  the  glass,  or  it  could  not 
always  be  so  exact  down  to  the  very  minutest  detail.  Here 
you  have  the  group,  which  I  recommend  to  you  for  one  of 
your  charming  saloon-pieces  : — Emilie,  as  the  smaller  and 
bolder,  is  naturally  the  second  Eleonora,  and  is  the  worldly 
protector  of  the  other  who  is  a  head  taller  and  even  in  my 
time  had  a  little  romance  with  a  poetical  young  schoolmaster 
who  was  a  trifle  out  of  his  senses,  so  she  has  the  superiority 
over  her  friend  which  riper  experience  and  early  sorrows 
bestow,  especially  as  ten  years  ago  she  bewailed  in  elegiac 
verses  her  hapless  fate,  to  fade,  in  the  bloom  of  her  youth, 
to  the  silent  tomb. 

"  This  sport  of  cruel  destiny,  the  victim  destined  to  an 
early  grave,  clasps  her  right  arm  around  the  shoulders  of  her 
friend,  gazing  down  upon  her  with  a  loving  look  as  if  to  say, 
Happy,  guileless  child !  thou  canst  sing  and  sport  in  life's 
bright  morning!  while  the  guileless  child  looks  up  at  her 
with  two  eyes,  blue  as  two  skies,  at  least,  and  with  a  provok- 
ing smile  on  her  saucy  lips.  It  is  a  touching  sight,  I  assure 
you  ;  and  more  than  ever  when  one  thinks  that  the  combined 
jages  of  the  two  Eleonoras  amount  to  some  sixty-two  or  sixty- 
three  years  ;  for  I  remember  quite  distinctly  that  as  a  very 
little  boy  I  would  not  play  with  Elise  any  more  because  she 
was  too  old  for  me,  and  as  for  Emilie  I  know  certainly  that 
she  is  exactly  one  year  older  than  I  am,  for  our  birthdays 
fell  on  the  same  day,  and  used  often  to  be  celebrated  to- 
gether. 

"  Yes,  the  tenacity  of  Fraulein  Emilie's  memory  is  great, 
but  there  is  one  hour  of  her  life  of  which  she  affirms  that  it 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  547 

is  ever  clouded  in  her  recollections  with  a  thick  mist.  And 
this  very  hour  is  so  clear  to  me,  that  I  can  almost  venture  to 
name  the  exact  number  of  curl-papers  that  quivered  around 
her  head  when  she  lifted  both  her  hands  to  me  and  supplica- 
ted me  to  spare  her  aged  father,  the  same  aged  father  who  now 
nods  confidentially  to  me  across  the  table,  with  his  full  glass 
in  his  hand,  and  after  dinner  calls  to  me  '  Prosit  Mahlzeit,  * 
my  young  friend  !  I  would  have  liked  to  touch  glasses  with 
you,  but  I  sat  too  far  off;  but  you  must  really  let  me  take 
your  hand,  you  must  indeed  ! '  upon  which  follows  a  half 
embrace,  if  not  a  whole  one.  I  assure  you  I  sometimes  take 
hold  of  my  head  to  convince  myself  that  this  is  not  all  an 
extraordinary  dream.  For  you  must  know,  Paula,  that  if  I 
am  not  the  fool  of  these  festivities,  I  am  not  far  from  being 
the  king  of  them  ;  everything  being  done  with  reference  to 
me,  every  one  flattering  me,  and  every  one  competing  for 
my  favor — with  a  single  exception,  of  course.  It  is  really 
edifying.  There  is  my  old  friend,  the  little  Herr  von  Granow, 
who  has  grown  so  much  fatter  with  time  that  even  in  his 
best  moments  he  can  no  longer  lift  his  head  from  between 
his  shoulders.  Least  of  all  can  he  when  his  spouse  is  by, 
a  stout  buxom  brewer's  daughter  from  S.,  who  brought  him  a 
couple  of  hundred  thousand  thalers,  which  he  takes  care  to 
get  the  good  of,  and  a  pair  of  slippers  under  whose  heavy 
strokes  they  say  the  poor  little  fellow  weeps  many  a  hot 
secret  tear.  But  disagree  as  they  may  on  other  points,  the 
pair  agree  on  this  one  of  paying  court  to  me  in  the  most 
ridiculous  manner  in  the  world.  The  little  man  recalls  with 
emotion  '  The  bright,  the  precious  hours '  that  he  once  spent 
in  my  society,  and  sighing  wishes  those  happy  days  back 
again,  and  that  too  in  the  presence  of  his  over-buxom  wife, 
who  with  a  mock  threat  lifts  a  warning  finger  and  says  :  '  O, 
you  bad,  bad  man  !  But  indeed  I  can  understand  how  for 
such  a  friend  one  could  even  sacrifice  the  peace  of  the 
domestic  hearth.' 

"  And  then  the  steuerrath  and  the  Bom !  I  wrote  you 
how  they  received  me.  Well,  since  then  a  grand  council 
must  have  been  held,  and  the  decision  come  to  to  try  other 
plans.     The  result  is  that  the  steuerrath,  so  soon  as  he  sees 

*  An  old-fashioned  table-compliment,  meaning  "  may  your  dinner  do  you 
good!"— T«. 


548  Hammer  and  Anvil.     ' 

me,  holds  out  his  hand  to  me,  saying  'Glad  to  see  you, 
George!  You  do  not  mind  my  calling' the  son  of  an  old 
and  too  early  lost  colleague  and  friend,  by  his  first  name  ! ' 
at  which  words  the  Born  smiles  benignant,  and  if  the  oppor- 
tunity permits,  takes  my  arm,  draws  me  on  one  side  and 
holds  a  long  consultation  with  me  about  the  apple  of  her  eye, 
Arthur.  Alas,  the  apple  of  her  eye  is  giving  her  so  much 
pain  again,  and  grieves  her  so  that,  if  one  believed  her 
assurances,  she  is  often  on  the  point  of  plucking  it  out  of  its 
aristocratic  socket.  But  one  must'nt  believe  her  assurances, 
and  I  never  do.  It  is  just  the  old  litany  that  I  have  known 
since  I  was  a  child :  how  Arthur  is  the  best,  cleverest,  hand- 
somest, wittiest,  charmingest  youth  in  the  world,  and  has  but 
one  fault,  that  of  hiding  his  thousand  and  one  lights  under 
the  bushel  of  his  frivolity,  where,  as  is  natural,  they  cannot 
produce  their  proper  effect.  Only  that  verse  of  the  litany 
that  referred  to  me,  has  taken  an  altogether  different  form. 
They  used  to  be  quite  certain  that  I  was  at  the  bottom  of  all 
the  unlucky  scrapes  that  Arthur  got  into :  now  they  are  per- 
fectly assured  that  I  and  I  alone  can  save  this  stray  lamb 
from  the  abyss.  *  One  who  like  you  has  borne  the  inevitable 
with  dignity,  one  who  like  you  has  won  the  hardest  victory, 

that  over  yourself,  one  who '  well,  I  do  not  doubt  that 

she  is  really  anxious  about  her  son's  future,  and  as  far  as  I 
can  see,  she  has  every  reason  to  be  ;  but  so  much  the  more 
do  I  doubt  her  good  disposition  towards  me.  I  know  too 
well  what  she  and  the  steuerrath  want  of  me  !  I  know  too 
well  what  Arthur,  who  comes  over  for  awhile  every  day  from 
Rossow,  wants  of  me,  when  he  sets  all  the  fountains  of  his 
amiability  to  playing,  and  sprinkles  me  with  a  heavy  spray 
of  flatteries  and  protestations  of  friendship.  And  the 
worst  of  all — or  should  I  say  the  best  ? — is  that  I  know  just 
as  well  what  all  the  rest  want ;  the  little  Herr  von  Granow, 
for  instance,  who  would  like  to  have  the  great  estate  of 
Zehrendorf,  and  wants  me  to  speak  a  good  word  for  him  to 
the  commerzienrath :  William  Kluckhuhn,  who  has  received 
warning  from  his  master,  and  wants  me  to  ask  that  he  may 
keep  his  place  ;  and  so  they  all  have  their  special  interests 
in  persuading  poor  George  that,  all  things  considered,  he  is  a 
young  man  of  singular  talents  and  remarkable  influence, 
whose  favor  is  very  well  worth  winning. 


Hatnmtr  and  Anvil.  549 

"  But  seriously,  dear  Paula,  it  is  a  very  curious  position  in 
which  I  find  myself  here  ;  and  I  really  do  not  know  if  they 
would  not  turn  my  head  altogether,  were  not — well,  were  not 
a  certain  person  here  whose  especial  task  it  seems  to  be  to 
set  it  right  for  me  again.     Or  that  is  possibly  the  wrong  ex- 
pression :  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say — to  turn  it  in  the 
other  direction  : — I  am  by  no  means  an  important  personage 
whom  any  one  need  to  consider  ;  I  am  a  quite  obscure  in- 
significant person,  whom  her  father,  heaven  knows  by  what 
caprice,  has  invited  to  his  house,  and  who  therefore  cannot 
exactly  be  shown  the  door,  but  who  must  be  given  to  under- 
stand that  people  of  his  class  really  belong  to  very  different 
society.      I  must  be  given  to  understand  this  by  any  and 
every  means,  some  of  the  queerest  in  the  world.     1  will  tell 
you  more  about  this  when  I  come  back  :  I  fear  the  faces  that 
they  make  here  to  me  would  look  by  far  less  handsome  on 
the  paper  than  they  are  in  reality,  and  the  little  extrava- 
gances which  they  let  themselves  be  drawn  into,  would,  on 
the  contrary,  seem  almost  insane.     Or  are  they  really  out  of 
their  senses  ?     Sometimes  it  seems  so  to  me,  and  I  often 
cannot  trust  myself  to  pass  a  judgment  on  them,  and  wish 
that  I  had  Benno  here,  or  were  myself  Benno  with  his  nine- 
teen years,  and  his  bright  illusions.     For  his  brown,  enthu- 
siastic eyes,  I  fancy,  the  blue-eyed  enigma  would  be  easier 
of  solution  than  for  an  old  lumpish  fellow  like  me,  with  my 
nearly  thirty  years,  my  rough  hands,  and  sluggish  brain. 
Well,  they  will  have  to  take  the  old  fellow  as  they  find  him ; 
and  if  they  don't,  they  may  worrj'  and  sulk  and  make  pretty 
faces  or  ugly  ones  as  they  choose,  it  does  not  matter  to  me, 
does  it,  Paula  ? " 

So  ran  the  letter,  which  I  wanted  to  seem  a  right  cheerful, 
even  merry  one ;  and  how  well  I  attained  my  object  the 
traces  of  the  tears  it  drew  from  Paula's  eyes  may  testify. 

Well  had  she  cause  to  weep  over  this  letter !  Had  she 
deserved  it  at  my  hands  that  I  should  intentionally  and  art- 
fully seek  to  conceal  from  her  what  really  caused  me  so  much 
mward  emotion  ?  And  was  not  this  letter  from  beginning  to 
end  a  clumsy  unsuccessful  attempt  to  mislead  her  as  to  the 
real  state  of  my  feelings  ?  How  much  of  all  this  letter  was 
the  honest  truth  ?     Scarcely  anything. 

The  whirl  of  amusements  into  which  I  was  drawn  here, 


550  Hammer  and  Anvil.  .   I 

had  by  no  means  left  me  so  sober  as  I  pretended.  It  was 
as  if  with  breathing  the  same  air  I  had  breathed  as  a  youth 
here  ten  years  before  I  inhaled  something  of  the  buoyancy 
and  love  of  pleasure  of  those  days.  The  handsome  rich 
house,  the  liberal  easy  life,  the  light  joyous  existence  from 
day  to  day,  the  life  in  the  open  air,  the  wanderings  over  the 
heaths,  on  the  cliffs,  through  the  woods,  and  with  all  these 
the  glorious  spring  weather,. with  warm  gales,  the  forerunners 
of  summer,  now  and  then  sweeping  through  the  blossoms — 
all  this  charmed  and  intoxicated  me.  No,  I  was  not  the 
sober,  cheerful,  untroubled  fellow,  that  I  represented  myself 
to  Paula,  and  tried  to  make  the  company  believe  me.  I  was 
not  sober,  and  far  less  was  I  cheerful  and  careless — quite  the 
contrary.  A  restless,  passionate  humor,  now  depressed  and 
now  over-excited,  had  taken  possession  of  me,  to  such  an 
extent  that  sleep,  my  true  comrade  from  childhood,  now  for- 
sook me,  just  as  it  forsook  me  at  the  commencement  of  my 
imprisonment ;  and  this  perhaps  was  in  part  the  cause  of 
another  feeling  of  that  old  time  often  coming  over  me :  the 
feeling  of  one  who  knows  that  a  decision  involving  his  life 
or  death,  is  now  hanging  by  a  hair. 

What  of  all  this  had  I  written  to  Paula  ?  But  how  could 
I  write  to  her  ?  Could  I  ^write  to  her  that  I  believed  that  I 
knew  the  reason  why  Hermine  kept  playing,  in  ever  strange 
and  more  fantastic  form,  the  game  which  she  had  commenced 
with  me  on  my  arrival  at  Zehrendorf  ?  And  if  something  in 
me  continually  recoiled  from  giving  the  right  explanation  to 
Hermine's  singular  conduct,  could  I  really  altogether  shut 
my  eyes  when  all  took  pains  to  show  me  and  make  clear  to 
me  that  they  saw  perfectly  well  what  I  was  determined  not 
to  see,  or-at  least  gave  myself  the  appearance  of  not  seeing.? 
Yes,  it  was  a  singular  and  unnatural  position  in  which  I 
found  myself,  a  position  in  which  we  write  that  kind  of  merry 
letters  to  our  friends  over  which  our  friends  weep  hot  tears. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


55' 


CHAPTER   XIII.     • 

I  CAME  back  from  the  chalk-quarry,  where  I  had  been 
busy  all  the  morning  with  setting  up  the  new  machine. 
The  work  under  my  direction,  owing  to  good  luck  and 
the  good  will  of  the  men,  had  succeeded  so  well,  and  the 
phlegmatic  old  master  miner  had  said  at  last,  with  a  kind  of 
inspiration  :  ".I  believe  we  shall  manage  it  yet !  "  I  was  in 
a  very  cheerful  frame  pf  mind.  The  old  delight  in  accom- 
plishing anything  had  possessed  me  once  more,  and  while  I 
strode  rapidly  through  the  fields,  revolving  in  my  thoughts 
various  plans  and  the  means  for  their  accomplishment,  I 
had  again  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  might  end  well  yet 
if  but  the  right  will  were  here,  and  again  I  said  to  myself, 
"  what  a  chance  for  the  master  here  !  " 

But  I  did  not  say  it  as  I  had  said  it  a  week  before.  Then 
it  was  a  wish  to  which  nothing  personal  was  attached,  and 
the  goal  appeared  to  me  utterly  unattainable.  Now  my 
heart  was  as  much  excited,  but  it  no  longer  beat  as  freely  as 
then,  and  the  goal  no  longer  seemed  at  an  inaccessible  dis- 
tance— indeed  it  sometimes  seemed  so  near  that  I  might 
touch  it  with  my  hand.  And  when  this  thought  came  into 
my  mind,  and  I  suddenly  saw  in  fancy  the  fair  young  face 
with  the  angry  cloud  on  the  white  firm  brow  surrounded 
with  its  mass  of  clear-brown  curls,  and  the  full,  red,  saucily- 
defiant  lips,  I  stood  gazing  blankly  at  the  green  wheat  whose 
spears  were  nodding  in  the  morning  breeze,  or  at  the  distant 
sea-horizon  glittering  beyond  the  edge  of  the  cliffs,  while  I 
saw  all  the  time  nothing  but  the  sweet  defiant  face  ;  and 
then  I  breathed  deeply,  and  bethought  myself  that  the  com- 
merzienrath  had  sent  for  me,  and  was  probably  expecting 
me  with  impatience. 

I  found  him  in  his  room  in  such  animated  conversation 
with  the  justizrath,  that  I  could  hear  the  voices  of  both  talk- 
ing together,  before  William  Kluckhuhn  opened  the  door. 
They  were  both  sitting  at  the  round  table  that  was  covered 
with  ground  plans,  designs  of  buildings,  and  specifications. 

"  Are  you  here  at  last  ?  "  cried  the  commerzienrath  to  me 
in  such  a  tone,  that  I  felt  justified  in  looking  over  my  shoul- 


552  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

der  at  the  door,  and  remarking  to  him  that  William  was  no 
longer  in  the  room. 

The  commerzienrath  cast  at  me  one  of  those  evil  glances 
which  one  sees  in  the  eyes  of  an  old  tiger  when  he  is  unde- 
cided whether  or  not  to  respect  the  steel  rod  in  the  hand  of 
his  keeper,  and  then  cried  in  the  most  pleasant  tone  : 

"  Yes,  yes,  the  rascal ;  I  sent  him  for  you  an  hour  ago  and 
now  he  brings  you  at  last.  We  cannot  get  along  without  you 
at  all ;  at  least  I  cannot,  though  this  gentleman  can  do  bet- 
ter without  you  than  with  you." 

"  Allow  me,  Herr  Commerzienrath "  began  the  other. 

"  No,  I  allow  nothing,"  he  replied ;  "  and  least  of  all  that 
you  shall  consider  yourself  my  friend  in  this  affair." 

"  I  am  also  the  friend  of  the  other  party,  so  to  speak,"  re- 
plied the  justizrath,  pushing  up  with  great  dignity  the  stiff 
grizzled  hair  from  both  sides  of  his  head  towards  the  crown, 
where  it  stood  up  in  a  comb,  something  like  that  of  a  clown 
in  a  circus. 

"  Then  you  should  at  least  be  impartial !  "  cried  the  com- 
merzienrath. 

"  Ask  our  friend  here  if  he  has  ever  known  me  otherwise," 
said  the  justizrath,  with  a  dignified  look  at  me. 

"  Oh,  ay,"  cried  the  commerzienrath,  "  but  fine  words  but- 
ter no  parsnips,  and  my  parsnips  get  poorer  the  longer  you 
keep  them  at  the  fire.  A  week  ago,  that  is  before  you  came, 
the  prince  was  willing  to  give  four  hundred  thousand  thalers  ; 
after  you  have  had  three  conferences  with  him,  he  abated 
fifty  thousand  of  his  offer,  making  sixteen  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  thalers  per  conference.  I 
am  much  obliged  to  you !  You  have  always  been  a  dear 
guest  to  me,  but  I  never  would  have  believed  that  you  would 
be  so  dear  as  that !  " 

Emilie's  father  made  a  movement  as  if  he  would  fain  wrap 
himself  up  from  the  sharp  arrows  of  his  antagonist,  in  the 
old  flowered  dressing-gown  he  used  to  wear  at  home  ;  but 
bethinking  himself  that  he  was  in  a  black  dress-coat,  he 
pulled  up  his  collar,  felt  to  see  if  the  comb  on  the  top  of  his 
head  was  in  good  condition,  and  looked  at  me  with  a  sly 
smile,  as  if  to  say :  "  Whoever  expects  to  get  the  better  of 
Justizrath  Heckepfennig,  has  got  to  get  up  early:  you  have 
found  that  out,  young  man,  eh  ?  " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  553 

"Yes,  my  dear  friend,  this  is  the  way  I  am  treated  here," 
continued  the  commerzienrath,  turning  to  me,  and,  for  a 
change,  falling  to  a  lachrymose  tone :  "  it  is  enough  to  drive 
a  man  out  of  his  senses ;  and  none  know  it  better  than  you, 
George,  for  you  understand  the  whole  thing — which  is  more 
than  I  can  say  of  some  people — ^you  know  well  that  the  prop- 
erty is  worth  five  hundred  thousand  thalers  between  brothers, 
now  especially,  when  we  have  the  certainty  of  draining  the 
chalk  quarries." 

The  commerzienrath  accompanied  these  words  with  an  ex- 
pressive look  at  me,  meaning,  "  Now  George,  keep  up  the 
ball ! " 

"  And  indeed  that  is  a  very  reasonable  price,"  he  went  on, 
"  when  we  consider  that  in  this  way  we  have  found  a  plan 
for  draining  the  great  morass,  by  carrying  the  pipes  to  the 
sand-bed  which  came  so  near  ruining  the  chalk-quarry,  and 
which  is  a  drain-trench  provided  by  nature  itself  for  the 
water  of  the  swamp." 

Here  the  commerzienrath  gave  me  a  furious  look,  because 
I  had  not  yet  come  to  his  assistance. 

Now  this  last  plan  he  had  mentioned,  was  one  I  had  sug- 
gested myself,  and  I  considered  it  therefore  my  duty  to 
remark  here  that  it  was  true  I  had  the  strongest  hopes  of  the 
success  of  the  scheme  referred  to,  but  that  it  could  only  be 
demonstrated  by  trial,  and  even  were  it  perfectly  successful, 
the  land  thus  gained  would  at  furthest  only  comp>ensate  for 
the  forest,  which  was  apparently  lost  beyond  recovery,  and 
thus  the  original  value  of  2^hrendorf  would  in  this  respect 
remain  unaltered. 

"  What  in  the  devil  do  you  mean,  sir !  "  cried  the  commer- 
zienrath, springing  up  and  storming  about  the  room.  "  Did 
you  come  here  for  this  ?    What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  came,  Herr  Commerzienrath,  at  your  own  request,"  I 
replied  calmly,  while  in  violent  excitement  he  paced  the  room 
with  quick  short  steps,  still  darting  venomous  looks  at  me, 
until  suddenly  he  threw  himself  back  in  his  easy  chair,  crying : 

"  What  a  fellow  this  George  Hartwig  is !  O  what  a  fellow ! 
What  answers  the  man  has  !  Came  here  at  my  request ! 
What  a  fellow,  what  a  fellow !  " 

And  the  old  gentleman  slapped  me  on  the  knee,  and  said, 
resuming  a  serious  tone  : 
24 


554  Ha7iimcr  and  Anvil. 

"But  to  come  back  to  our  business,  the  fact  is  that  I  can 
have  five  hundred  thousand  from  Von  Granow  any  day.  Is 
that  not  so,  George  ?  Did  he  not  say  so  to  you  yesterday 
evening  ?  " 

Herr  von  Granow  had  said  nothing  of  the  sort  to  me,  but 
on  the  contrary  that  he  was  ready  to  negotiate  on  any  rea- 
sonable terms,  but  that  the  commerzienrath's  demands  were 
simply  unreasonable,  not  to  say  ridiculous. 

As  I  could  not  do  the  commerzienrath  the  favor  to  tell  a 
falsehood,  and  would  not  afford  the  justizrath,  who  seemed 
to  be  waiting  for  it,  the  pleasure  an  admission  of  the  truth 
would  afford  him,  I  arose  from  my  chair,  saying  that  if  I 
could  be  of  no  other  service  to  them,  I  would,  with  their  per- 
mission, go  to  my  own  room  where  I  had  a  little  work  to  do. 

"  No,  no  ;  stay  here,  stay  here  !  "  cried  the  cornmerzien- 
rath  eagerly  ;  "  I  must  speak  with  you  on  matters  of  impor- 
tance. And  as  for  us,  my  dear  old  friend,  go  now  and  tell 
his  highness  whatever  you  choose  ;  but  if  you  tell  him  that 
we  cannot  succeed  in  draining  the  chalk-quarry,  I  shall  send 
him  George  here,  who  will  open  his  eyes  on  that  point. 
And  now  farewell,  my  old  friend,  and  come  back  at  noon 
punctually.  I  have  found  a  couple  more  bottles  of  '22  Hock, 
that  you  will  like  I  know,  gourmand  that  you  are  !  " 

And  the  commerzienrath  poked  the  corpulent  justizrath  in 
the  ribs  with  his  thumb,  in  a  jocular  fashion,  and  in  this  way 
poked  him,  so  to  speak,  out  at  the  door,  then  turned  shortly 
on  his  heel,  came  with  quick  steps  and  stood  before  me, 
and  cried  in  a  rage  that  sent  the  blood  to  his  bald  temples : 

"  Now  will  you  tell  me, — are  you  going  to  help  me  in  this 
business,  or  are  you  not  1  " 

"  First  tell  me,  Herr  Commerzienrath, — will  you  take  an- 
other tone  with  me,  or  will  you  not  ? "  I  answered. 

"  Bah  !  leave  your  fooleries  !  We  are  alone  now.  I  have 
no  notion  of  playing  blindman's-buff  with  you,  do  you  under- 
stand me,  sir }  " 

"  Not  in  the  least,"  I  answered ;  "  or  only  so  far  that  I 
have  no  notion  of  being  a  minute  longer  the  guest  of  a  man 
who  knows  so  little — or  rather,  who  is  so  entirely  ignorant 
of  what  is  due  to  a  guest." 

I  said  this  in  a  very  calm  tone,  but  I  was  far  from  feeling 
the  calmness  that  I  assumed.     On  the  contrary,  the  thouglit 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  555 

that  in  this  moment  the  grand  plans  I  had  been  cherishing, 
were  probably  dissolving  in  smoke  ;  that  this  angry,  foolish, 
selfish  old  man  was  trampling  into  the  earth  the  young  green 
crop  of  my  fairest  hopes, — this  thought  made  my  heart  beat, 
and  gave  my  last  words  a  bitterness  unusual  to  me. 

The  commerzienrath's  sharp  ears  must  have  heard  that 
he  had  driven  me  to  the  limit  of  my  pat4ence,  for  as  I  laid 
my  hand  on  the  knob  of  the  door  I  felt  myself  held  fast  by 
my  coat-tails,  and  turning  round,  saw  the  face  of  the  queer 
old  man  lifted  to  me  with  such  an  extraordinary  grimace, 
that,  sad  as  I  felt,I  had  to  burst  out  laughing. 

"  Ay,  that  is  right,  laugh  away,  bad  man,  and  sit  down 
again.  Yes  ;  that  was  all  that  was  wanting,  that  )'OU  should 
run  away  from  me.  A  nice  mess  I  should  have  had  at  din- 
ner-time after  that !  No,  no,  sit  down.  It  is  necessary  that 
I  should  talk  with  you,  and  I  will  speak  as  if  you  were  my 
own  son.  Heaven  has  not  thought  fit  to  grant  me  one,  so  I 
must  look  to  others,  who,  naturally  enough,  cannot  pardon 
an  old  man's  little  infirmities  of  temper." 

I  had  soon  returned  to  a  placable  mood,  and  the  commer- 
zienrath  need  not  have  adopted  quite  so  lamentable  a  tone. 
But  he  kept  it  up,  while  he  went  into  a  long  explanation  how 
he  had  taken  Zehrendorf  originally  in  the  hope  of  selling  it 
to  advantage ;  that  the  proper  time  had  now  arrived,  and  he 
needed  the  money,  imperatively  needed  it,  and  that  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  that  I  should  help  him  to  close  the  bar- 
gain with  the  prince.  I  understood  the  matter  better  than 
either  he,  the  justizrath,  or  the  young  prince,  and  the  last 
had  written  to  him  repeatedly,  and  even  this  morning  again, 
that  he  would  rather  treat  through  me  than  the  justizrath,  who 
was  an  old  ass — "  and  heaven  help  him  !  "  the  commerzien- 
rath  here  cried,  "  an  old  ass  he  most  truly  is :  he  is  indeed  !  " 

"What  has  put  it  into  the  prince's  head  to  mix  me  up  in 
the  matter  ? "  I  asked,  in  amazement. 

"  Because  he  takes  an  interest  in  you,  as  everybody  else 
does,  you  confounded  fellow  !    Now  will  you  ?  say,  will  you?" 

"  Herr  Commerzienrath,"  I  said,  after  a  short  pause  in 
which  I  had  striven  to  concentrate  upon  one  point  the 
thoughts  that  were  whirling  in  my  brain,  "  I  will  own  to  you 
that  it  grieves  me  to  think  that  Zehrendorf  should  pass  into 
other  hands,  into  the  hands  of  a  master  of  whom  I  know  not 


556  Hammer  and  Ahvil. 

but  that  he  may  let  all  that  has  been  called  into  existence 
here  with  so  much  labor  and  cost,  fall  to  neglect  and  ruin,  so 
that  the  poor  people  about  here  may  sink  into  a  worse  con- 
dition than  that  in  which  you  found  them.  For  in  spite  of 
ever^'thing,  your  new  undertakings  have  drawn  many  here 
who  cannot  get  away  again  so  easily,  but  must  remain  here 
to  suffer  and  to  increase  the  sufferings  of  the  rest.  Now  I 
have  frankly  told  you,  more  than  once,  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath,  that  I  by  no  means  consider  you  the  good  master  that 
I  wish  for  Zehrendorf ;  and  if,  despite  this,  I  had  rather  see 
you  here  than  another,  it  is  simply  because  for  your  own  in- 
terest you  will  have  to  try  to  complete  what  has  been  begun, 
and  I  have  not  yet  given  up  the  hope  of  making  you  a  con- 
vert to  my  views.  Still,  since  you  say  that  you  are  compelled 
to  sell  the  property,  and  your  resolution  seems  fixed,  I  will 
help  you  in  the  matter,  but  only  under  two  conditions.  The 
first  is,  that  you  authorize  me,  as  your  friend,  but  also  as  a 
man  of  honor,  to  take  the  negotiation  into  my  own  hands, 
that  is  to  say,  to  aim  at  a  good,  or  we  will  say  the  best  price, 
but  not  to  make  demands  which  the  prince  can  only  consent 
to  if  he  is  a  fool,  and  which,  if  he  is  not  a  fool,  he  will  reject 
with  contempt.  One  moment's  patience,  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath  ! — I  said  I  had  two  conditions.  The  second  is,  that  so 
soon  as  I  have  effected  the  sale  of  Zehrendorf,  you  will  agree 
to  the  plan  for  extending  our  works  in  the  city,  and  will  place 
at  my  disposal  the  sums  which  I  have  calculated  as  necessary 
for  that  purpose." 

"  Are  you  clear  out  of  your  senses,  sir !  "  cried  the  com- 
merzienrath,  smiting  with  his  fist  the  arm  of  his  chair,  "  to 
say  such  things  to  me  here,  in  my  own  house,  in  my  own 
room,  as  if  you  were  a  Pacha  of  three  tails,  or  I  don't  know 
what,  instead  of  being " 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant,"  I  said,  rising,  and  making 
him  a  polite  bow. 

"  Eh  !  what  .-* "  he  exclaimed,  "  Do  you  want  to  frighten 
me  ?     You  are  not  going,  I  know  ;  why  all  these  fooleries  ? " 

"  And  you  will  agree  with  me  at  last,  so  why  all  this  noise  ? " 
I  replied  laughing. 

'•  But  I  tell  you  for  the  hundredth  time  that  if  I  sell  Zeh- 
rendorf ever  so  well,  I  need  the  money  for  other  things 
than  your  cursed  factory  !  "  shouted  the  commerzienrath. 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


557 


I  looked  him  steadily  in  the  eye,  and  said,  "  Do  you  know 
what  I  have  lately  dreamed,  Herr  Commerzienrath  ?  It  is 
that  you  are  really  very  far  from  being  the  rich  man  you  are 
generally  believed  to  be." 

"  You  confounded  fellow  !  you  humorous  dog  !  you  funny 
rascal !  "  cried  the  commerzienrath.  "  I  suppose  you  will 
tell  me  next  that  I  have  stolen  the  boots  I  am  wearing. 
Couldn't  you  lend  me  five  thalers  for  a  day  or  two  >  you " 

And  he  poked  me  in  the  ribs  with  his  thumb,  and  held 
his  sides  with  laughter  at  his  capital  joke. 

"  If  you  are  a  rich  man,  then,"  I  continued  very  seriously, 
and  it  cost  me  no  effort  to  be  serious  now — "  then  say  yes, 
and  the  thing  is  settled." 

I  held  out  my  hand,  and  he  struck  his  own  into  it,  laugh- 
ing still  like  mad. 

•'  The  thing  is  settled  then,"  I  said,  drawing  a  deep  breath. 

"  Settled,"  he  said. 

"  And  I  shall  hold  you  to  your  word,  Herr  Commerzien- 
rath," I  said  :   "  You  may  count  surely  upon  that" 

"  And  I  count  upon  you,"  he  answered,  still  holding  my 
hand  fast  in  one  of  his  own,  while  with  the  other  he  gave  me 
little  raps  upon  the  knuckles.  "  If  you  were  not  a  man  to 
be  relied  upon,  would  I  have  taken  so  much  pains  about  you, 
do  you  suppose  ?  you — Oh  !  murder  !  " 

In  my  excitement  I  must  have  pressed  the  old  man's  hand 
a  little  too  hard,  for  he  gave  a  loud  outcry  and  made  a  hor- 
rible grimace :  I  begged  his  pardon,  and  he  laughed  and 
shook  his  hand,  and  again  cried  "  Murder !  you  man  of  iron ! 
you  confounded  fellow !  "  and  poked  me  out  at  the  door, 
with  his  thumb,  just  as  he  had  poked  out  the  justizrath. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

I  HAD  spent  the  rest  of  the   forenoon  in  my  room,  in 
order  to  finish  a  calculation  necessary  to  the  proper  ad- 
justment of  the  machine  at  the  quarry.     But  I  had  not 
got  beyond  the  statement  of  the  problem.     The  new,  almost 
certain  prospect  of  being  able  to  carry  out  my  great  wish  to 


558  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

enlarge  our  works,  almost  made  me  dizzy.  In  fancy  I  saw 
the  space  of  ground  where  my  lodging  was,  covered  with 
buildings  ;  I  saw  the  flames  springing  from  the  great  fur- 
naces and  smoke  pouring  from  the  tall  chimneys  ;  I  heard 
the  clang  of  hammer  on  anvil,  and  saw  the  crowd  of  dingy 
workmen  thronging  the  wide  yards  in  the  evening,  and  scat- 
tering in  the  streets  of  a  new  quarter  where  in  cleanly 
houses  cheerful  homes  awaited  them,  where  they  could  rest 
from  the  toils  of  the  day.  And  a  change  had  passed  over 
the  desolate  house  in  which  I  lived  ;  fresh  green  sward  sur- 
rounded it,  a  Triton  spouted  a  jet  of  water  high  into  the  air 
from  the  old  basin  of  sandstone  into  which  it  fell  plashing 
back,  where  a  host  of  goldfish  played  merrily,  or  darted  back 
from  the  margin  at  the  approach  of  a  pair  who  came  up  hand 
in  hand  and  bent  over  the  water  to  see  their  own  faces  re- 
flected. But  the  reflection  quivered  and  broke,  so  that  only 
now  and  then  could  be  seen  two  bright  blue  eyes  and  two 
full  red  lips,  nor  was  it  clear  whether  the  eyes  flashed  with 
anger  or  with  love,  or  whether  the  lips  were  pouted  to  a 
scornful  word  or  to  a  kiss. 

"  Dinner  will  soon  be  served,  Herr  Engineer,"  said  Wil- 
liam Kluckhuhn,  entering.  "  Can  I  assist  the  Herr  Engi- 
neer to  dress  ? " 

William  regularly  came  with  this  polite  offer  of  his  servi- 
ces, although  I  just  as  regularly  declined  them.  But  to-day 
he  would  not  take  any  dismissal,  and  helped  me  on  with  my 
best  coat  so  actively,  and  brushed  and  touched  me  up  with 
such  zealous  pertinacity,  that  I  had  to  ask  him  if  he  had  any 
request  to  make  of  me. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  answered  ;  "  but  )'ou  were  so  kind  as  to  get 
me  back  into  favor  with  the  master,  who  was  in  the  wrong 
altogether,  for  even  if  I  drank  champagne " 

"  Very  well,  William,"  I  said. 

"  So  I  only  wanted  to  tell  you,"  he  went  on  in  a  confiden- 
tial tone,  "  that  they  have  had  a  terrible  quarrel,  and  I  very 
plainly  heard " 

"  But  I  do  not  wish  to  hear  it,  William." 

"  But  you  need  not  mind  my  telling  you,  for  if  I  listened 
at  the  door  a  little  bit,  that  was  not  your  doing,  and  it  was 
not  my  doing  that  the  door  was  ajar,  and  I  plainly  heard  our 
lady  say  that  she  would  never  forgive  it  you " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  559 

"  Well,"  I  muttered. 

"  And  when  she  said  it,  she  looked " 

"  So  you  could  see  too  ?  " 

"  O,  the  door  was  pretty  wide  open,"  William  answered, 
shrugging  his  shoulders,  "  and  I  made  a  rattling  with  the 
plates  on  purpose,  but  the  Fraulein  was  in  such  a  rage " 

And  William  here  made  a  face,  apparently  intended  to  rep- 
resent the  one  he  had  seen  through  the  crack  of  the  door, 
but  so  absurdly  incredible  that  I  burst  out  laughing. 

"  Very  good,"  he  said  ;  "  I  wanted  to  give  you  the  hint ;  for 
when  she  is  angry but  you  can  laugh." 

And  William  sighed  deeply  and  looked  at  me  in  a  suppli- 
cating manner.     "  Well  ?  "  I  said. 

"  And  I  wanted  to  beg  you,"  he  went  on,  "  that  if— ahem  ! 
you  know  what  I  mean — you  would  be  so  good  as  to  help 
me  and  my  Louise  too,  for  we  have  been  waiting  now  six 
years,  and  it  is  easy  for  you,  Herr  Engineer.  Is  it  not,  now, 
Herr  Engineer  ?  " 

"  William,  I  firmly  believe  you  have  taken  leave  of  your 
senses,"  I  answered,  and  strode  past  him  out  of  the  room 
with  a  look  intended  to  express  majestic  indignation. 

But  William's  ears  had  served  him  faithfully,  as  I  presently 
learned  at  table.  The  company  was  small ;  no  one  besides 
the  inmates,  except  Arthur,  who  had  come  over  in  the  justiz- 
rath's  carriage  from  Rossow,  and  greeted  me  as  usual  with 
excessive  friendliness.  The  two  Eleonoras,  owing  to  the  i 
warmth  of  the  day,  appeared  in  virgin  white,  and  as  a  group, 
of  course.  Hermine  kept  us  waiting  awhile.  The  commer- 
zienrath  drew  me  aside  and  whispered  to  me  that  the  prince 
had  sent  him  word  that  he  must  be  quite  satisfied  about  the 
chalk-quarry  before  the  negotiation  went  any  further,  and 
that  he  would  send  over  his  carriage  this  afternoon  to  bring 
me  to  Rossow. 

I  had  no  time  to  answer  this  communication,  which  for 
more  than  one  reason  was  unacceptable  to  me,  for  at  this 
moment  Hermine  entered  and  I  saw  plainly  that  she  had 
been  weeping,  although  she  tried  hard  to  appear  as  gay  and 
careless  as  possible.  The  day  was  so  charming — so  deli- 
cious !  and  to-morrow  it  would  be  finer  still,  and  the  party 
to  the  Schlachtensee  would  be  too  delightful !  The  company 
was  to  be  the  very  nicest  that  could  be  ;  all  young  people. 


560  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

not  an  old  one  among  them.  After  dinner  they  would  go 
over  to  Trantow  to  pick  up  Hans,  who  could  not  be  dis- 
pensed with,  then  to  Sulitz,  where  Herr  von  Zarrentin  and 
his  charming  wife  would  join  them  ;  then  arrive  between  five 
and  six  at  the  coast-village  Sassitz;  a  stroll  through  the 
dunes  and  the  beech  forest  as  far  as  the  Schlachtensee  ; 
supper,  with  pine-apple-punch,  and  moonrise  there  \  return 
til  rough  the  wood  to  the  cross-roads  at  the  Rossow  pines, 
where  their  carriage  and  horses  would  be  ready  for  them  ; 
return  of  the  whole  company  without  exception  to  Zehren- 
dorf ;  and  wind  up  all  with  tea  and  punch,  and,  if  possible, 
a  dance  for  such  as  were  very  nice. 

"  Bravo  !  bravo  !  That  is  a  plan  !  "  cried  Arthur,  enthu- 
siastically clapping  his  hands. 

"I  knew  it  would  have  your  approval,  dear  Arthur,"  said 
the  fair  designer,  stretching  her  hand  to  him  over  the  table, 
with  her  sweetest  smile  ;  "  you  understand  these  things,  and  I 
count  upon  you  especially." 

"  I  did  not  count  upon  you,'^  she  added,  turning  suddenly 
to  me. 

"  I  neither  said,  nor  supposed  anything  of  the  kind,  Frau- 
lein  Hermine,"  I  replied. 

"  That  is  the  very  reason  why  one  cannot  count  upon  you 
in  such  things.  You  don't  think  about  them.  Of  course  ! 
How  can  any  one  whose  mind  is  occupied  with  matters  of 
so  much  more  importance  ?  " 

Hermine  was  never  particularly  amiable  in  her  behavior 
to  me,  but  her  conduct  to-day  was  so  pointedly  unkind,  and 
her  vehemence  too  void  of  any  visible  cause,  not  to  strike 
the  most  indifferent  spectator,  not  to  mention  the  steuerrath 
and  the  Born,  who  were  very  far  from  indifferent,  and  now 
cast  meaning  looks  at  Arthur,  as  if  urging  him  to  strike 
while  the  iron  was  hot.  Arthur  was  evidently  quite  disposed 
to  follow  their  counsel,  but  did  not  precisely  know  how  to  go 
about  it ;  so  he  contented  himself  with  giving  Hermine  a 
languishing  look,  and  curling  his  little  black  beard.  The 
others  seemed  to  gather  from  Hermine's  last  words,  and  still 
more  from  the  excited  tone  in  which  she  had  spoken,  that 
there  was  something  unusual  in  the  air.  Friiulein  Duff,  who 
had  been  all  the  time  looking  remarkably  pale  and  agitated, 
raised  her  eyes,  as  if  in  despair,  to  the  ceiling,  while  the  jus- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  561 

tizrath  riveted  his  gaze  on  a  dish  of  salad,  and  drummed 
lightly  on  the  table ;  Emilie  looked  at  her  friend  Elise,  and 
Elise  at  Emilie,  Emilie's  look  inquiring  "  Does  an  innocent 
child  like  me  need  to  understand  these  things  ?  "  and  Elise's 
replying  "  Sport  peacefully,  sweet  cherub !  Leave  this  to  us 
experienced  ones  ! "  Even  William  Kluckhuhn,  who  stood 
waiter  in  hand  at  the  sideboard,  pulled  a  long  face,  as  if  the 
turn  things  had  taken  was  not  altogether  to  his  satisfaction, 
and  the  commerzienrath  alone  was  so  busy  with  the  other 
waiter,  who  was  uncorking  under  his  eyes  a  bottle  of  the 
famous  hock,  that  he  had  not  the  least  idea  as  to  the  cause 
of  the  sudden  silence  that  had  fallen  upon  the  company. 
He  looked  up  in  the  most  unconscious  manner  in  the  world, 
and  asked  innocently — "  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  what  were 
you  speaking  about  ?  " 

The  peculiar  expression  which  I  had  noticed  in  so  many 
different  shades  on  the  faces  of  the  guests,  grew  several  tints 
deeper.  The  silence  was  more  profound  ;  the  second  waiter 
John,  who  was  in  the  act  of  uncorking  the  '22  hock,  stopped 
with  the  cork  half-drawn,  and  the  plates  which  William  was 
handling  rattled  nervously,  as  the  steuerrath  pouring  out 
with  unsteady  hand  a  glass  of  wine,  replied  : 

"  Our  dear  Hermine  was  remarking  that  in  the  innocent 
amusements  which  youth  loves,  one  could  not  count  upon 
our  excellent  George — you  will  excuse  me,  George,  for  call- 
ing you  by  the  old  familiar  name — ^because  our  young  friend 
has  so  many  other,  and,  we  will  admit,  more  important 
things  on  his  mind." 

The  commerzienrath  poured  out  with  his  own  hands  the 
precious  wine  into  the  large  hock-glasses — only  a  thxmib's 
breadth  deep,  as  otherwise  one  lost  the  perfect  bouquet — 
and  probably  took  advantage  of  this  pause  to  collect  him- 
self, so  that  he  was  able  to  reply  in  a  peculiar  drawling  tone : 

"  More  important  things  ?  Is  not  that  a  wine  !  More 
important  things — the  very  flower  of  the  Rhine ! — on  his 
mind  ?  I  should  think  so :  we  made  a  bargain  this  morning ; 
he  is  to  sell  Ziehrendorf  for  me  and  I  am  to  buy  for  him  that 
piece  of  ground  adjoining  the  works  in  Berlin.  I  should 
think  it  likely  that  such  a  thing  as  that  would  be  on  any 
one's  mind." 

I  was  astonished  beyond  measure  to  hear  the  commerzien- 
.   24* 


562  Hammer  attd  Anvil. 

rath,  whom  I  knew  to  be  a  very  cautious  man,  mention  an 
affair  which  we  had  only  agreed  upon  a  few  hours  before, 
and  which  I  considered  a  strict  business  secret,  thus  openly 
before  all  his  guests,  and  especially  in  the  presence  of  the 
justizrath,  to  whom  my  intervention  in  the  matter  was  any- 
thing but  flattering — I  was  so  amazed,  I  say,  at  this  unbusi- 
nesslike, incomprehensible  proceeding  of  the  usually  so 
shrewd  old  man,  that  I  felt  a  flush  of  confusion  rising  hot  in 
my  face. 

Again  silence  fell  upon  the  room  ;  the  peculiar  expres- 
sion in  the  countenances  of  the  guests  deepened  another 
tone,  and  now  it  was  Hermine's  voice  that  broke  the  silence : 

"  Have  I  not  told  you,  Emilie,  that  Herr  Hartwig  is  a 
frightful  aristocrat  ?  He  cannot  bear  to  see  so  old  an  estate 
in  any  other  than  noble  hands.  That  sort  of  thing  is  not 
for  us  plebeians.  What  does  it  matter  that  we  have  to  leave 
a  place  that  we  have  grown  fond  of  in  these  seven  years  ? 
We  must  take  what  we  can  get  and  be  thankful  that  we  are 
anywhere  at  all." 

There  was  a  quiver  in  the  tone  of  her  voice,  and  her  eye- 
lids reddened  as  if  she  restrained  her  tears  with  difficulty ; 
the  silence  grew  more  oppressive,  and  there  was  no  need  for 
the  commerzienrath's  raising  his  voice  so  high  as  he  said  : 

"  So  it  is :  God's  service  goes  before  lord's  service,  and  our 
George  has  the  notion  that  he  serves  God  with  every  addi- 
tional farthing  that  he  can  make  those  poor  devils  of  work- 
men earn  ;  and  if  he  has  but  few  good  words  for  lord's  ser- 
vice, woman's  service  is  his  downright  abominatioti." 

"  That  is  not  your  device,  Arthur  !  "  said  the  steuerrath, 
in  an  encouraging  tone. 

"  Noblesse  oblige,"  said  the  Born,  with  emphasis. 

"Mon  cceur  aux  dames  I"  said  Arthur,  laying  his  delicate 
hand  on  his  heart  and  bowing  to  his  cousin. 

The  justizrath  and  his  ladies  said  nothing,  contenting 
themselves  with  exchanging  significant  looks  to  the  effect 
that  this  was  a  family  affair,  and  they  have  better  avoid 
meddling  in  it. 

Again  ensued  an  embarrassing  pause,  which  was  broken, 
just  as  the  situation  seemed  to  have  reached  a  climax,  by 
William  Kluckhuhn  using  his  pocket-handkerchief  with  an 
energy  altogether  unbecoming  in  a  decorous  serving-man, 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  563 

even  in  moments  of  the  most  lively  concern.  Fraulein  DufF, 
who  had  held  her  thin  hands  spasmodically  clasped  over 
her  breast  during  the  last  words  of  the  Commerzienrath 
with  the  pale  resignation  of  one  whose  only  remaining  hope 
is  in  a  better  hereafter,  broke  out  into  a  hysterical  weeping, 
and  Hermine  suddenly  rising  and  pressing  her  handkerchief 
to  her  cheeks  and  forehead,  begged  that  the  company  would 
excuse  her  if  her  ill-humor  had  annoyed  them,  but  that  her 
headache  was  so  violent  that  she  must  retire  to  her  room. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  of  those  present  believed  in 
this  headache,  but  this  of  course  did  not  hinder  the  two  Eleo- 
noras  from  springing  from  their  chairs,  and  approaching 
the  fair  sufferer  on  either  side,  in  the  intent  to  compose  a 
touching  group.  But  Hermine  had  already  seized  the  arm 
of  her  sobbing  governess,  and  left  the  room  with  a  painful 
smile  upon  her  lips,  which  seemed  intended  for  all  the  com- 
pany except  myself 

Except  myself,  over  whom  her  look  had  passed  as  if  my 
chair  were  empty,  and  the  rest  of  the  company  seemed  to 
entertain  the  same  opinion.  No  one  had  a  word  or  look  for 
me,  and  I  have  never  forgotten  it  of  William  Kluckhuhn 
that  at  this  fateful  moment  he  had  the  hardihood  to  step  be- 
hind my  chair,  and  in  a  suppressed  tone  to  ask : 

"  Will  the  Herr  Engineer  take  another  glass  of  hock  ?" 

I  took  the  glass,  and  sipped  it  slowly  with  the  air  of  a  con- 
noisseur, but  I  cannot  say  that  I  was  able  to  do  justice  to 
the  noble  vintage.  With  all. the  trouble  I  took  to  appear 
quite  at  my  ease,  I  was  greatly  pained  and  disconcerted.  It 
is  an  extremely  disagreeable  thing  to  be  singled  out  in  this 
way  by  a  young  lady  before  an  entire  company. 

Happily  my  strength  was  not  tasked  too  hardly.  The 
company  rose  from  table  and  hastily  separated ;  I  went  out 
into  the  grounds  to  think  it  all  over  in  the  soothing  compan- 
ionship of  a  cigar. 

One  thing  was  at  once  perfectly  intelligible :  the  behavior 
of  the  company  at  this  incident.  They  had  let  me  drop  at 
the  instant  they  thought  they  saw  that  my  game  was  lost  I 
knew  well  that  Arthur's  parents  had  never  given  up  the  hope 
that  he  would  one  day  marry  his  cousin,  and  that  their  ful- 
some flatteries  and  Arthur's  deceitful  show  of  friendship  were 
only  meant  to  cloak  their  real  aim,  and  perhaps  to  obtain 


564  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

some  influence  over  me,  as  they  probably  feared  that  open 
enmity  would  only  make  their  chance  worse. 

As  for  the  justizrath  and  the  two  Eleonoras,  they  merely 
swam  with  the  stream.  They  and  the  others — the  conduct 
of  all  was  explicable  enough ;  but  the  commerzienrath  ? 
Did  it  not  look  as  if  he  had  intentionally  provoked  this 
scene  at  table,  or  at  least  offered  the  opportunity  ?  He  was 
usually  adroit  enough  in  giving  another  turn  to  the  conver- 
sation when  it  did  not  please  him.  And  if  he  really  needed 
my  assistance  in  effecting  the  sale,  why  did  he  mention  the 
matter  to  Hermine  now  when  all  was  still  unsettled  ?  Why, 
when  he  knew  how  averse  she  was  from  the  project,  mention 
me  to  her  as  its  originator  or  at  all  events  its  chief  promoter  ? 
Did  he  simply  use  me  to  screen  himself?  Such  a  manoeuvre 
was  exactly  consistent  with  his  character  ;  he  had  a  way  of 
shifting  burdens  that  were  uncomfortable  for  him,  to  the 
shoulders  of  others.  Or  was  this  not  all  ?  Had  the  cun- 
ning old  man  tried  his  cuttle-fish  stratagem  again,  and  hid- 
den himself  in  a  cloud  of  assumed  carelessness  ?  He  had 
noticed  nothing,  not  he,  of  ail  that  was  going  on  around  him, 
and  in  which  he  was  so  much  concerned,  and  thus  quite  in- 
nocently, accidentally  indeed,  he  placed  "  his  young  friend  " 
in  a  quite  untenable  p>osition  towards  his  pretty  passionate 
daughter. 

The  blood  rose  hot  to  my  brow  as  I  came  to  this  conclu- 
sion, and  a  new  feeling  rose  within  me  and  obtained  a  com- 
plete mastery  of  me.  It  had  always  been  an  easy  thing  for 
me  to  forgive  heartily  those  who  had  injured  me  ;  so  easy 
indeed  that  I  often  called  myself  a  weakling,  a  man  with 
neither  heart  nor  gall ;  why  then  was  that  which  I  usually 
found  so  easy,  so  difficult  for  me  now  ?  Why  did  every  ob- 
lique glance  that  had  been  directed  at  me  across  the  table, 
the  neglect,  the  indifference  which  had  been  suddenly  exhib- 
ited, now  all  recur  even  in  their  minutest  details  to  my  mem- 
ory ?  And  why  did  I  feel  as  if  I  should  suffocate  at  that 
which  I  had  hitherto  borne  with  such  apparent  equanimity  ? 
I  had  suddenly  struck  a  new  vein  in  my  own  nature,  a  vein 
from  which  a  bitter,  black,  poisonous  stream  flowed  into  th^ 
current  of  my  healthy  blood.  I  felt  as  an  actual  physical 
change  what  was  really  only  a  change  in  my  disposition ;  the 
first  violent  emotion  of  ambition  ;  the  hot  desire  for  personal 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  565 

revenge  ;  the  humiliation,  the  disgrace,  if  this  were  baffled  ; 
the  desperate  final  resolution  to  emerge  from  the  contest  as 
victor,  to  attain  my  aim  in  spite  of  all  and  everything. 

My  aim  !  What  was  it  then  ?  The  same  which  I  had  in 
view  when  I  came  here,  or  another  ?  Or  this  and  that  both 
at  once?  Well  might  I  at  this  moment  have  heard  the  warn- 
ing voice  of  that  stern  wisdom  which  says  that  we  cannot 
serve  God  and  Mammon. 

I  had  taken  my  seat  upon  a  bench  which  stood  in  a  thick 
copse  of  bushes.  It  was  a  quiet  secret  nook.  The  birds 
twittered  pleasantly,  a  gentle  breeze  blowing  over  the  garden 
brought  sweet  odors  on  its  soft  pinions,  and  a  warm  reviving 
sun  beamed  from  the  clear  blue  sky.  The  spot  was  so  sweet 
and  the  hour  so  lovely  that  I  had  to  yield  to  its  soft  solicita- 
tions, resist  them  as  I  might.  My  blood  began  to  flow  more 
calmly :  I  commenced  to  take  an  interest  in  a  pair  of  finches 
that  had  just  set  up  housekeeping  in  a  knot-hole  of  a  tree, 
recently  transplanted  here  from  the  Rossow  park,  and  were 
incessantly  hurrying  in  and  out  of  their  little  door.  It  was 
a  peaceful  pretty  picture ;  the  little  creatures  were  in  such  a 
hurry,  and  were  so  unwearyingly  busy,  and  evidently  out  of 
mere  love — the  world  after  all  was  not  so  wretched  a  place 
as  it  had  just  seemed  to  me. 

With  these  thoughts  flitting  through  my  mind,  I  must  have 
closed  my  eyes  and  fallen  asleep  ;  for  I  saw  the  bushes  in 
front  of  me,  and  behind  which  ran  a  walk,  bend  apart,  and  a 
face  appear  between  them  ;  a  lovely  girlish  face  upon  which 
the  sunbeams  and  shadows  of  the  leaves  were  playing,  and 
partly  from  this,  and  partly  because  I  was  dreaming,  I  could 
not  see  clearly  enough  to  decide  if  the  light  in  the  eye  was 
anger  or  love.  When  at  last  I  opened  my  eyes  fairly,  I 
could  see  the  place  in  the  bushes,  but  the  sweet  face  was  no 
longer  there,  but  at  the  same  moment  I  heard  ringing  laugh- 
ter with  shouts  and  the  cracking  of  a  whip,  and  mingled  with 
the  rest,  piteous  cries  as  of  some  one  entreating,  then  sud- 
denly a  loud  shriek  of  terror,  which  caused  me  to  spring  from 
the  bench  and  hurry  to  the  spot. 

It  was  a  circular  space  surrounded  with  shrubbery,  which 
was  used  as  a  race-course  and  which  I  had  myself  used  as  a 
riding-school  several  times  during  my  stay  here  as  I  endeav- 
ored to  improve  my  imperfect  horsemanship  under  the  guid- 


566  Ifamtner  and  Anvil. 

ance  of  the  coachman,  Anthony,  an  old  cavalryman.  My 
lessons  had  been  taken  secretly  in  the  very  early  morning, 
because  I  knew  that  Hermine,  who  was  passionately  fond  of 
riding,  was  in  the  habit  of  practising  here  for  an  hour  or 
two  in  the  forenoon.  Recently  Anthony  had  told  me  that 
Friiulein  Duff  was  also  taking  lessons,  at  the  request  of  her 
young  lady,  who  had  suddenly  taken  into  her  head  to  have 
in  her  expeditions  and  visits  in  the  neighborhood,  another 
escort  beside  her  groom,  whom  she  frequently  dispensed  with 
anyhow.  The  thing  appeared  to  me  absolutely  incredible, 
although  old  Anthony,  who  had  nothing  of  the  quiz  about 
him,  assured  me  with  the  most  serious  face  that  it  was  a  lit- 
eral fact ;  now  I  was  to  have  my  doubts  removed  by  the  evi- 
dence of  my  own  eyesight.* 

In  the  middle  of  the  track  stood  Arthur,  who  kept  crack- 
ing a  long  whip  incessantly,  Hermine,  who  was  laughing  in 
great  amusement,  the  two  Eleonoras,  in  virginal  white,  cling- 
ing to  each  other  as  usual,  and  Anthony,  who  plainly  hesi- 
tated whether  to  obey  Arthur's  repeated  orders  to  keep 
away,  or  yield  to  the  piteous  supplications  of  Fraulein  Duff, 
and  help  that  unhappy  lady  off  the  horse.  It  seemed  that 
for  the  first  time  they  had  let  go  the  halter-rein,  and  the  un- 
skilful and  excessively  timid  rider  had  been  seized  with  sud- 
den panic.  In  her  desperation  she  had  clasped  both  arms 
around  the  neck  of  the  horse,  a  small  shaggy-maned  animal 
not  much  larger  than  a  pony,  who  on  his  part  plunged,  kicked, 
and  did  his  best  to  throw  her  entirely  out  of  the  saddle,  as 
she  was  already  half  out  of  it.  The  spectacle  was  certainly 
indescribably  ludicrous,  but  I  could  not  bear  to  see  for  an 
instant  my  good  friend  in  this  predicament  without  coming 
to  her  assistance,  and  in  a  moment  I  had  sprung  to  her  side, 
caught  the  horse's  head,  and,  as  she  held  out  her  arms  to  me, 
lifted  her  from  the  saddle.  I  wished  to  place  her  gently  on 
the  ground,  but  in  vain  did  I  whisper  to  her  to  control  her- 
self and  not  make  a  scene.  As  she  had  previously  clung  to 
the  horse's  neck,  so  she  now  clung  to  mine,  and  seemed  to 
find  the  greatest  pleasure  in  swooning  in  my  arms  and  upon 
my  breast.  If  a  situation  of  this  sort  under  some  circum- 
stances is  not  destitute  of  charms  for  the  cavalier,  it  assumes 
another  character  when  his  fair  burden  has  fully  reached 
those  years  when  she  can  stand  alone,  and  becomes  perfectly 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  567 

intolerable  when  the  spectators  instead  of  commiserating 
him  and  hastening  to  his  relief,  only  move  their  hands  to  ap- 
plaud like  mad,  and  break  into  inextinguishable  laughter. 

At  least  this  was  what  Hermine  and  Arthur  did,  while  of 
the  two  Eleonoras  the  second  only  looked  at  the  first  to  see 
if  she  might  laugh. 

"  Duffy,  Duffy,"  cried  Hermine,  "  I  have  always  told  you 
to  beware  of  him !  " 

"  Fraulein  Duff,"  exclaimed  Arthur,  "  do  you  want  to 
tighten  the  curb-chain  ? " 

"  May  I  ? "  signalled  the  second  Eleonora  more  urgently, 
and  the  first  replied  in  the  same  way,  "  Laugh,  thou  innocent 
cherub  !  "  and  herself  set  the  example. 

"  Come,  let  us  leave  them  alone  ;  they  must  have  a  great 
deal  to  say  to  each  other,"  said  Hermine,  and  hurried  off 
amid  peals  of  laughter,  and  the  rest  followed,  all  laughing 
like  mad,  even  to  the  stolid  old  Anthony,  who  led  away  the 
horse,  joyously  whinnying,  which  was  probably  his  way  of 
joining  in  the  general  hilarity.  The  next  instant  I  was 
standing  alone  with  my  fair  burthen  in  my  arms,  mortified, 
offended,  furious,  as  I  had  never  been  before,  so  that  if  a 
river  had  chanced  to  be  at  hand,  I  believe  I  would  have 
pitched  the  poor  Fraulein  into  it  without  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion. Happily  the  temptation  was  not  presented  to  me,  and 
as  the  laughter  of  the  departing  company  grew  fainter  in  the 
distance,  Fraulein  Duff  recovered  consciousness,  and  un- 
clasping her  arms  from  my  neck,  murmured :  "  Richard, 
you  are  my  preserver !  " 

Richard  was  very  far  from  being  in  the  mood  to  fall  in 
with  the  sentimentalities  of  the  poor  governess,  and  indeed 
had  at  this  moment  nothing  like  a  lion-heart  in  his  breast, 
but  rather  a  little,  spiteful,  vindictive  heart ;  so  he  let  his  poor 
charge  sUde  very  unceremoniously  to  the  ground,  and  stood 
before  her  with  gloomy  brows  and  probably  wrathful  looks, 
for  she  clasped  her  hands  as  if  frightened  and  whispered : 

"  Richard,  for  heaven's  sake  grow  not  desperate  :  however 
clouds  obscure  the  sky,  the  sun  still  beams  above  !  " 

"  Fraulein  Duff,"  I  said,  "  I  must  confess  that  at  this  mo- 
ment I  am  in  no  temper  for  jesting,  far  less  becoming  the 
jest  of  others.  You  will  therefore  excuse  me  if  I  bid  you 
good  day." 


568  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

I  sought  to  extricate  my  hand  from  hers,  in  which  I  suc- 
ceeded with  some  difficulty.  But  I  had  scarcely  taken  three 
steps  when  1  heard  such  a  lamentable  crying  and  sobbing 
behind  me  that  I  could  not  help  turning  round.  And  there 
she  stood  in  her  green  riding-habit,  the  skirt  of  which  was 
wound  round  her  feet  like  a  serpent,  and  upon  her  pale  yellow 
dishevelled  locks  a  tall  hat  crushed  out  of  shape,  with  a 
green  veil,  the  strings  of  which  were  hanging  over  her  face 
instead  of  behind. 

"  Dear,  good  Fraulein  Duff!  "  I  said  remorsefully.  "  Come ! 
I  know  you  meant  nothing  but  kindness."  And  I  drew  her 
arm  in  mine,  and  led  her,  still  softly  weeping,  away  from  the 
place  of  terror,  trying  with  friendly  words  to  comfort  her, 
until  we  reached  the  bench  upon  which  I  had  been  sitting, 
and  where  I  compelled  her  to  sit  down,  as  she  was  com- 
pletely overcome.  Thus  we  sat  awhile  side  by  side,  I  star- 
ing gloomily  at  the  sand,  and  she  sobbing  more  and  more 
faintly,  until  at  last  she  lifted  her  tearful  eyes  to  me  and 
said  : 

"  How  can  I  requite  your  kindness,  faithful  noble  friend  ?  " 

"By  never  alluding  to  it,"  I  answered;  "by  never  by  a 
single  word  reminding  me  of  this  ridiculous  scene  ;  which, 
however,  I  swear,  shall  be  the  last  in  the  wretched  comedy 
which  I  have  let  them  play  with  me  here  so  long." 

"  Comedy  ?  "  said  Fraulein  Duff,  pressing  her  handker- 
chief to  her  eyes  with  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  she 
held  me  fast,  as  I  had  risen  to  my  feet — "  You  need  calm, 
dear  Carl — ^your  blood  is  in  a  tumult — sit  here  by  me — 
away  with  these  black  fever-phantasies  !  " 

I  had  to  laugh,  angry  as  I  was,  and  took  my  seat  again 
by  her  side. 

"  O  !  "  cried  Fraulein  Duff,  "  you  are  joyous  and  good, 
and  still  you  understand  human  nature  ;  and  can  you  really 
be  deceived  in  this  maiden  soul  which  lies  before  me  as 
clear  and  transparent  as  yonder  heaven;  —  yes  as  yonder 
heaven,"  she  repeated,  raising  her  arms  poetically  aloft 
where  in  all  the  sunny  clearness  of  a  spring  afternoon,  the 
bluest  of  skies  peeped  through  the  thick  blossoming  branches 
to  our  secluded  nook. 

"  How  can  any  one  know  that  which  under  the  best  cir- 
cumstances does  not  know  itself?  "  I  returned. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  569 

"  You  err,  my  friend,"  replied  the  governess.  "  You  take 
the  timid  flutterings  of  this  chaste  virgin  soul  for  attempts 
at  flight ;  and  yet  it  would  only  fly  to  you,  the  coy  birdling, 
to  vou  and  you  alone  !  " 

"  In  the  name  of  heaven  and  all  the  blessed  saints,  Frau- 
lein  Duff",  hush  !  You  drive  me  out  of  my  senses,  talking  in. 
that  way  !  "  I  cried,  now  effectually  springing  up,  and  pacing 
up  and  down  as  if  demented,  which  indeed  I  was ;  "  I  will 
hear  nothing  more  of  it  and  believe  nothing  more  of  it,  not 
even  if  I  hear  it  from  her  own  lips  !  " 

"  You  will  so  hear  it,"  said  Fraulein  Duff". 

I  broke  into  derisive  laughter. 

"  You  will,"  she  repeated  ;  "  only  patience,  Richard  ; 
only  patience !  " 

"  To  the  devil  with  patience  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  What  shall  be  the  wager,  prince  ?  "  said  the  governess 
with  a  sly  smile,  lifting  the  thin  forefinger  of  her  transparent 
hand.  "  I  summon  old  stories  back  to  your  heart ;  old  sto- 
ries. Dont  I  remember  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday,  how  she 
cried  when  she  was  but  an  eight-year-old  child,  and  would 
not  be  comforted,  when  she  heard  that  they  had  put  in  prison 
the  handsome  tall  youth  who  always  swung  her  so  high  "i  how 
she  named  all  her  dolls  (Jeorge,  and  used  to  put  them  in  the 
parrot's  cage  and  say  that  was  her  lover  who  was  now  in 
prison,  and  Poll  was  the  jailor  and  wanted  to  snap  off"  her 
lover's  head  with  his  crooked  beak  ?  And  when  I — ^for,  my 
friend,  a  faithful  educator  of  youth  must  be  like  the  good 
gardener  who  grafts  roses  upon  the  thorny  stock — ^when  I 
tried  to  substitute  for  this  fantastic  form  of  childish  g^ief,  a 
more  poetical  one ;  when  I  told  her  of  Richard,  the  Lion- 
hearted,  the  renowned  in  song  and  legend,  and  of  Blondel 
the  faithful  singer,  then  she  saw  her  ideal  in  this  form  alone, 
and  wandered  about,  her  cithern  in  her  hand,  until  she 
found  him  she  sought.  Chance,  or  rather  I  must  say  the 
god  of  love  so  ordained  it  that  she  really  saw  him  in  prison, 
paler  than  of  yore,  it  is  true,  but  ever  fair  and  stately,  and 
thus  has  she  carried  his  image  in  her  heart  for  six,  seven 
years,  without  being  for  one  moment  unfaithful  to  her  Rich- 
ard. You  laugh  incredulously,  O  my  friend !  You  know 
not  how  adamantine  is  the  soul  of  a  true  woman.  Seven 
years !  that  seems  to  you  an  eternity.     My  friend,  I  know 


570  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

hearts  that  have  loved — ^loved  without  hope — for  five-and- 
thirty  years ! " 

And  the  good  Fraulein  pressed  her  handkerchief  to  her 
eyes  and  sobbed  aloud,  but  mastered  her  emotion  presently 
and  went  on : 

"  But  that  is  nought  to  the  purpose  now  ;  I  will  not 
burthen  your  good  heart,  at  this  moment  when  its  own  des- 
tiny is  pressing  so  heavily  upon  it,  with  the  tragedy  of  another 
life  which  has  been  darkened  with  perpetual  gloom  by  such 
a  misunderstanding  as  now  drifts  over  the  horizon  of  yours 
like  a  passing  cloud  ;  nor  is  *  misunderstanding '  the  right 
word  in  your  case  :  you  understand  each  other  as  do  the  two 
birds  there  " —  and  Frftulein  Duff  pointed  to  the  bush  where 
the  pair  of  finches  were  carrying  on  their  courtship—"  only 
you  are  human  creatures  with  human  sensitiveness  and 
human  pride.  Alas,  and  she  is  not  at  all  what  she  seems  to 
be  !  How  has  she  humbled  herself  to  her  love  in  her  hours 
of  solitude  !  How  often  has  she  kneeled  before  me,  her  face 
buried  in  my  lap,  and  said  that  her  beloved  was  high  above 
her  like  a  star,  and  that  she  could  never  hope  to  be  worthy 
of  one  so  strong,  so  brave,  so  noble.  O  my  friend, 
she  is  proud  of  you !  With  what  enthusiasm  was  she  not 
filled  when  dear  Fraulein  Paula  wrote  her  how  you  had  acted 
in  that  night  of  the  storm,  and  again  "  there  is  no  one  like 
him,  no  one  !  "  she  exclaimed,  when  you  were  our  preserver 
on  the  steamer  last  autumn.  Yes,  my  friend,  you  are  her 
religion;  and  she  confesses  you  before  all  men,  only  not 
before  you.  Was  she  not  fixed  upon  having  her  Richard  in 
a  picture  at  least,  whatever  her  heartless  father  might  say  t 
Has  she  not  adored  this  picture  as  if  it  were  the  image  of  a 
saint,  and  even  fitted  up  her  room  in  oriental  style,  that  its 
surroundings  might  harmonize  with  it?  The  same  room 
you  now  occupy :  no  other  was  good  enough  for  her  Rich- 
ard ;  and  her  Richard  must  have  it,  let  people  shake  their 
heads  as  they  might,  or  her  tyrannical  father  bawl  in  his 
hateful  way,  and  I  myself — I  confess  it — mildly  remonstrate. 
My  friend,  to  this — to  such  a  step  which  would  be  ludicrous 
were  it  not  sublime — belong  courage,  inspiration,  all  the  in- 
tensest  conviction  of  a  great  ideal  love.  The  world  delights 
to  darken  all  that's  bright — if  that  be  a  poet's  word  it  is  an 
eternal  truth,  and  believe  me,  she  herself  has  had  her  martyr- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  57^ 

dom  to  bear ;  it  is  no  pigmy's  task  to  maintain  one's  self 
against  such  a  father.  I  will  say  no  evil  of  him  ;  I  will  say 
nothing  of  him,  for  where  should  I  begin  and  where  end  ? 
And  yet  she  has  achieved  the  impossible  :  the  tiger  fawns  at 
the  feet  of  the  lamb." 

"  I  learned  that  to-day,"  I  replied. 

"  Remind  me  not,"  cried  Fraulein  Duff,  "  of  that  terrible 
hour,  which  was  yet  only  a  further  proof  of  her  love.  O 
smile  not  so  sardonically  !  Has  it  not  been  long  her  cher- 
ished hope,  here,  at  this  place  which  is  so  dear  to  her,  some 
day  to  realize  with  her  Richard  her  dream  of  love  ?  And 
now  to  hear  that  she  shall  be  driven  from  this  paradise,  and 
that  the  angel  with  the  sword  is  none  other  than  the  lord  of 
the  paradise  himself !  " 

"  But,"  I  cried,  "  am  I  the  one  who  drives  her  from  it  ?  How 
can  she  make  me  responsible  for  a  thing  that  she  knows  to 
be  the  cherished  scheme  and  urgent  wish  of  her  father,  who 
probably  intentionally  provoked  the  scene  at  the  table  to-day  ?" 

"  Very  possibly,"  replied  Fraulein  Duff.  "Who  can  fathom 
the  wiles  of  this  labyrinthine  old  man  ?  Yes,  if  I  rightly  re- 
member, she  hinted  at  something  of  the  sort  when  we  were 
alone  in  her  room,  and  she  relieved  her  o'erburthened  heart 
in  a  flood  of  tears." 

"  From  what  we  have  just  seen,  the  relief  appears  to  have 
been  pretty  effectual,"  I  said. 

"  My  friend,"  replied  the  governess,  "  he  jests  at  scars  who 
never  felt  a  wound.  Will  you  be  less  patient  than  I,  who  for 
all  the  wayward  humors  of  the  lovesick  child  have  only  a  tear 
of  pity  in  a  smiling  eye  ?  " 

"  It  is  not  given  to  every  one  to  submit  so  cheerfully  to 
tyranny  as  you  do,  dear  Fraulein." 

"  I  am  exhausted,"  said  Fraulein  Duff,  pressing  her  palm 
against  her  brow.  "  All  my  evidences  glide  off  from  this 
serpent-smooth  eccentric." 

"  Then  let  us  break  off  this  conversation  ;  besides,  it  is  full 
time  I  had  started  for  Rosso w." 

I  had  arisen,  and  the  governess  also  arose,  swuiig  the  long 
train  of  her  riding-habit  boldly  over  her  left  arm,  and  said, 
leaning  on  my  right : 

"Richard,  do  not  go  to  Rossow:  evil  will  come  of  it: 
trust  me ;  I  have  Cassandra's  foreboding  spirit." 


572  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  I  am,  though  from  other  motives,  little  inclined  to  go," 
I  replied  ;  "  but  1  am  resolved  to  do  my  duty  and  keep  the 
promise  I  made  to  the  commerzienrath,  whether  he  asked  it 
with  a  good  or  an  evil  intention,  and  be  the  consequences 
what  they  may." 

"*I  like  the  Spaniard  proud,'"  replied  Fraulein  Duff  with 
an  enthusiastic  look,  "but  it  is  not  always  the  haughty  one 
who  brings  home  the  bride  ;  the  crafty  one  often  reaches  the 
goal.  '  The  monarch's  pampered  minion  seeks  her  hand — ' 
do  you  not  fear  Arthur  ?" 

"  To  fear,  in  such  cases,  one  must  either  hope  or  wish :  I 
am  not  aware  that  I  have  indulged  in  either  feeling." 

Fraulein  Duff  in  sudden  terror  drew  her  arm  from  mine, 
stopped  and  exclaimed  : 

"  Great  heavens,  what  do  I  hear !  How  am  I  to  under- 
stand you  ?  O  Roderick,  by  all  our  hopes  of  bliss  hereafler 
I  adjure  you — do  you  not  love  her  then  ?  Do  you  really  love 
Paula,  as  that  insidious  Arthur  is  ever  whispering  in  her  ear?" 

I  was  spared  the  necessity  of  answering  this  very  ticklish 
question,  for  at  this  moment  William  appeared,  calling  me, 
and  saying  that  the  Rossow  carriage  had  been  waiting  for 
me  half  an  hour,  and  that  he  had  been  looking  for  me  every- 
where. 

"  Good-by,  Fraulein  Duff,"  I  said. 

"  And  no  answer  ?  None .''''  cried  the  governess  with  a 
look  of  agonized  expectation. 

"This  is  my  answer,"  I  said,  p>ointing  to  the  carriage. 

Cassandra  possibly  found  that  oracular  speeches  are  some- 
times too  hard  even  for  seeresses  to  unriddle,  for  as  the  car- 
riage rolled  out  at  the  gate  I  looked  back  and  saw  her  stand- 
ing where  I  had  left  her,  her  eyes  and  hands  raised  to 
heaven,  in  the  attitude  of  the  Praying  Child. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

BUT  the  deliverers  of  ambiguous  oracles  do  not  always 
find  their  avocation  an  exhilarating  one,  as  I  at  once 
discovered  while  the  light,  elegant  vehicle,  drawn  by 
two  magnificent  blood-horses,  rolled  over  the  excellent  new 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  573 

road  which  led  from  Zehrendorf  past  Trantowitz  to  Rossow, 
It  was  a  glorious  afternoon  ;  here  and  there  in  the  clear  blue 
sky  stood  great  white  clouds,  whose  shadows  agreeably 
diversified  the  otherwise  rather  monotonous  landscape; 
larks  were  singing  gaily  over  the  broad  fields  of  young  grain 
waving  in  the  soft  west-wind,  plovers  flew  over  the  great 
heath,  trenched  in  various  parts  by  turf-cuttings  between  the 
beech-woods  of  Trantow  and  the  pine-forest  of  Rossow; 
and  from  the  distance  came  unceasingly  the  call  of  the 
cuckoo.  The  whole  landscape  to  its  minutest  details  has 
remained  imprinted  on  my  memory,  perhaps  because  the 
bright  laughing  picture  was  in  so  marked  a  contrast  with  my 
own  gloomy  and  undecided  feelings.  The  indiscreet  ques- 
tion of  the  governess  had  lifted  the  veil  from  a  secret  of  my 
heart,  which  I  had  hitherto  carefully  passed  with  averted 
face.  Only  lifted  a  little,  not  removed.  I  had  not  the  cour- 
age nor  the  strength  to  complete  what  I  had  begun,  and  as 
in  such  moments  of  confusion  one  usually  catches  at  the  first 
object  that  presents  itself,  in  order  to  escape  mere  distrac- 
tion, I  now  clutched  the  determination  not  to  let  my  heart, 
though  it  should  break  in  the  effort,  interpose  a  word  in  the 
affair  I  had  undertaken. 

In  this  mood  I  looked  forward  to  the  approaching  interview 
with  a  calm  that  would  have  astonished  myself  had  I  reflected 
where  and  how  I  last  met  the  prince,  and  under  what  singu- 
lar circumstances  our  previous  meetings  had  occurred.  But 
I  scarcely  thought  of  this  at  all,  or,  if  at  all,  only  to  shake 
off  the  thought  and  say  to  myself :  I  have  wandered  here 
into  such-  a  labyrinth,  that  one  strange  meeting  more  or  less 
makes  no  difference.  Only  forward !  have  done  with  it ! 
for  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  turn  back. 

The  pines  of  Rossow — a  beautiful  piece  of  woods  of  fine 
stately  trees — had  now  closed  around  us  ;  the  road  growing 
sandy,  compelled  the  driver  to  go  at  a  slower  pace,  and  I 
sprang  from  the  carriage  and  walked  beside  it  with  long 
strides,  so  that  I  soon  left  it  behind.  The  trees  grew  ever 
larger,  the  silence  ever  deeper,  the  mysterious  forest-twilight 
dimmer,  until  suddenly  I  stepped  from  imder  the  last  trees  and 
saw  before  me  a  well-proportioned  small  castle,  gray  with 
antiquity,  with  tall  spires  on  the  turrets,  numerous  balconies 
and  other  projections  of  various  kinds,  here  and  there  thickly 


574  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

overgrown  with  ivy,  standing  in  a  clear  space  surrounded  by 
magnificent  trees.  This  was  the  hunting-lodge  Rossow,  the 
temporar}'  residence  of  the  young  banished  prince. 

An  old  domestic  with  snow-white  hair,  who  was  sitting  in 
the  Gothic  portal,  now  approached  me,  and  after  respectfully 
inquiring  the  object  of  my  coming,  and  telling  me  that  the 
prince  had  been  expecting  me  some  time,  led  me  through  a 
small  dark  hall,  singularly  decorated  with  old  armor  and 
weapons  of  all  kinds,  up  several  stairs  to  a  Gothic  door, 
artistically  ornamented  with  iron-work,  which  he  threw  open 
with  a  bow  and  the  whispered  words,  "  His  Highness  has 
given  orders  to  admit  you  unannounced."  I  stepped  into 
the  room  and  stood  before  the  young  prince. 

He  was  rising  from  a  wide  sofa  upon  which  he  had  prob- 
ably fallen  asleep  while  waiting  for  me  ;  at  least  the  expres- 
sion of  his  handsome,  pale,  refined  face  indicated  confusion, 
and  it  was  some  moments  before  he  appeared  quite  to  com- 
prehend the  situation. 

"  Ah,  yes,"  he  said,  at  last ;  "  Herr — excuse  me,  my  mem- 
ory for  names  is  so  very  bad — Hartig  ?  Oh,  excuse  me — 
Hartwig— so  it  is  !  Now  this  is  very  kind  of  you  to  come  ; 
very  kind  indeed.  I  beg  you  will  be  seated.  Do  you  smoke  ? 
There  are  cigars ;  help  yourself     Very  kind  of  you  indeed  !" 

He  had  thrown  himself  back  again  in  the  corner  of  the 
sofa,  and  half  closed  his  eyes  as  if  he  wished  to  go  to  sleep 
again.  I  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  cast  a  hasty 
glance  around  the  apartment. 

It  was  a  large  antique  room,  not  very  high,  panelled  in 
dark  oak,  with  a  ceiling  of  oak,  divided  into  compartments. 
Portraits,  brown  with  age,  hung  around  the  whole  wall,  to 
the  solitary  wide  Gothic  window,  through  the  small  stained 
panes  of  which  fell  a  dim  and  colored  light.  The  furniture, 
which  was  very  numerous,  was  in  a  correspondingly  antique 
and  venerable  style :  wide-backed  chairs,  cabinets  and 
tables  richly  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl  and  ivory ;  and  on 
the  mantelpiece,  between  elegant  pitchers  of  beaten  silver 
and  goblets  of  cut-crystal,  stood  a  large  clock,  artistically 
inlaid,  and  covered  with  elaborate  and  fantastic  scroll-work, 
a  master-piece  of  rococo. 

Upon  a  great  bear-skin  rug  before  the  fire-place  lay  a 
handsome  long-haired  wolf-hound,  who  at  my  entrance  had 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  575 

raised  his  head  a  little  and  then  laid  it  between  his  fore-paws 
again.  The  clock  on  the  mantel  ticked  softly  in  the  silence, 
a  thrush  twittered  outside  of  the  window,  the  footsteps  of 
the  old  domestic  resounded  on  the  stone  hall,  and  presently 
the  young  prince  in  the  sofa  corner  opened  his  large  weary 
eyes  and  said  :  "  What  were  we  speaking  of  just  now  ?  " 

"  We  ? "  I  asked,  in  some  surprise. 

"  Ah,  to  be  sure,"  said  the  prince,  "we  have  not  yet  spoken 
of  anything.  You  must  excuse  me  ;  but  really  it  would  be 
no  marvel  if  I  forgot  how  to  speak  altogether  ;  for  I  have 
been  sitting  now  two  months  already  in  this  frightful  den, 
like  an  owl  that  dreads  the  daylight.  I  sometimes  look  at 
my  nails  to  see  if  they  are  not  turning  to  talons.  How 
wearisome  it  all  is  !  But  now  we  will  proceed  to  business. 
Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  push  the  cigar-box  over  this 
way ;  and,  if  it  is  not  too  much  trouble,  touch  the  bell  there 
to  your  left .?  " 

I  did  as  he  requested,  and  the  old  servant  entered  with  a 
bottle  and  two  glasses. 

"  You  need  not  wait,"  said  the  prince. 

The  old  man  placed  the  waiter  between  us  on  the  table, 
and  left  the  room. 

"Will  you  fill  your  glass  ?"  said  the  prince  ;  "  and  mine 
too,  if  you  will  be  so  good — thank  you.  We  shall  need  it  in 
this  dry  business." 

But  despite  this  thorough  preparation,  he  seemed  to  be  in 
no  hurry.  He  examined  his  nails  as  attentively  as  if  he  now 
really  detected  the  first  sproutings  of  the  owl's  talons,  then 
suppressed  a  slight  yawn  and  seemed  to  have  the  question  as 
to  what  we  had  been  talking  about,  once  more  on  his  lips, 
but  luckily  bethought  himself,  and  said,  while  playing  with 
a  large  signet  on  his  finger : 

"  I  have  always  wished  to  see  you  sometime  at  my  house ; 
you  must  know  that  I  take  an  extraordinary  interest  in  you." 

"  Indeed  ?  "  I  said. 

"  Yes  indeed,  an  extraordinary  interest,"  the  prince  re- 
peated. "  I  have  retained  you  in  my  memory  from  the  time 
of  our  first  meeting,  which,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  is  but  rarely 
the  case  with  me.  But  you  seemed  to  me,  and  still  seem,  to 
be  an  original,  and  I  take  a  peculiar  interest  in  originals." 

I  bowed  slightly,  and  took  advantage  of  the  pause  to  re- 


576  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

mark,  "  If  it  is  agreeable  to  you  to  hear  from  me  what  I 
think,  from  careful  examination  of  the  chalk-quarry " 

"  You  see,  originals  are  very  scarce,"  went  on  the  young 
prince,  as  if  I  had  not  spoken, — "  incredibly  scarce.  No 
one  knows  that  better  than  one  of  our  class,  who  are  chased 
up  and  down  through  the  world  from  our  youth  up.  Ever- 
lasting sameness  :  the  same  stereotyped  faces,  the  same  ster- 
eotyped manners,  the  same  stereotyped  phrases.  I  could 
scarcely  name  more  than  two  or  three  persons  who  have 
produced  upon  me  the  impression  that  I  was  talking  with 
real  human  beings  and  not  with  puppets.  One  of  these  is, 
as  I  said,  yourself;  another  is  an  old  decrepit  dervish  whom 
I  lighted  on,  if  my  memory  serves  me,  in  Jerusalem,  and 
who  told  me  that  after  a  search  of  a  hundred  and  four  years 
he  had  found  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  that  the  thing  was 
not  worth  finding  ;  and  the  other  was  perhaps  poor  Con- 
stance von  Zehren." 

I  moved  uneasily  in  my  chair,  and  began  again — "  The 
chalk-quarry,  about  which  your  Highness " 

"  She  it  was  that  brought  about  our  acquaintance,"  went 
on  the  prince,  who  again  could  not  have  heard  me  ;  "  so  it 
is  but  natural  that  my  memory  reverts  to  her  at  this  moment 
when  I  have  the  pleasure  of  conversing  with  you  so  agree- 
ably. She  was  a  peculiar,  a  strangely  organized  being, 
whose  nature  has  been  to  me,  up  to  this  moment,  a  perfect 
riddle,  and  probably  will  ever  remain  so.  A  mixture  of  ap- 
parently absolute  contradictions :  proud,  without  self-respect ; 
bold,  even  foolhardy,  and  yet,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  of 
a  catlike  timidity ;  romantic,  yet  calculating — in  a  word,  I 
have  never  been  able  to  comprehend  how  such  character- 
istics could  exist  together  in  one  and  the  same  soul.  You, 
as  you  have  yourself  known  her,  will  admit  the  correctness 
of  my  judgment ;  and  perhaps  will  also  agree  with  me  in  the 
opinion  that  one  should  reflect  long  before  one  holds  a  man 
who  has  had  the  fortune — or  misfortune — to  be  drawn  into 
too  close  an  intimacy  with  a  person  of  so  strange  a  nature — 
an  intimacy  which  I  may  well  call  perilous — one  should  re- 
flect long,  I  say,  before  holding  that  man  responsible  for  all 
the  consequences  which  this  perilous  intimacy  may  entail." 

The  young  man  was  still  leaning  back  in  the  sofa-corner, 
playing  with  his  ring,  a  picture  of  ennui  and  indifference. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  577 

I  was  in  the  most  painful  position  imaginable,  and  inly  cursed 
the  chance  which  had  brought  the  indolent  man  to  speak 
upon  this  theme  of  all  others.  Or  was  it  then  a  chance  ?  I 
fancied  that  I  perceived  in  the  tone  with  which  he  spoke  the 
last  words,  some  signs  of  internal  emotion  ;  but  I  could  not 
be  sure  of  it,  and  I  was  about  to  make  a  third  and  decisive 
attempt  to  bring  the  conversation  to  business  matters,  when 
the  prince  began  again  in  a  more  animated  tone  : 

"  It  is  not  my  fault  that  all  happened  as  it  did.  I  have, 
it  may  be,  one  or  two  things  upon  my  conscience  which  I 
had  rather  not  have  there  when  I  sit  here  all  alone,  and  for 
very  weariness  cannot  even  sleep  ;  but  in  that  affair  I  am 
really  not  the  most  culpable  party.  I  was  very  young  when 
I  first  saw  her  ;  she  was  far  the  older  of  the  two,  if  not  in 
years,  at  least  in  experience  and  worldly  prudence.  How 
she  came  by  it  I  know  not — with  women  anyhow  we  rarely 
know  how  they  come  by  it — and  she  had  it  all,  as  I  said,  in 
a  high  degree.  It  was  no  slight  achievement  to  blind  me  to 
the  ruin  which  lay  plainly  enough  before  my  eyes  ;  the  anger 
of  the  prince,  my  father,  upon  whom  I  am  altogether  de- 
pendent, the  certainty  that  I  was  throwing  away  the  hand  of 
a  noble  and  amiable  lady  who  had  been  chosen  for  me :  it 
was  no  trifling  achievement,  I  sa}',  and  yet  she  succeeded  in 
bringing  me  to  it.  And  yet,  upon  my  word  as  a  nobleman, 
I  would  never  have  abandoned  her,  if  I  had  not  heard  a  cir- 
cumstance connected  with  Fraulein  von  Zehren — or  at  least 
having  reference  to  her — something  of  which  she  was  alto- 
gether innocent — absolutely  and  entirely  innocent — which  I 
cannot  further  explain  because  it  is  not  my  secret,  but  which 
was  of  such  a  nature  that  from  the  moment  I  learned  it  all 
thoughts,  whether  of  a  lawful  or  illicit  connection  between  us, 
became  for  me  at  once  and  forever  impossible.  Strange 
things  come  to  pass  in  life :  things  which  at  first  appall  us 
like  hideous  spectres,  but  which  one  gradually  becomes  ac- 
customed to  and  learns  to  endure.     Do  you  not  think  so  ?  " 

The  prince  seemed  to  be  half  in  slumber  again  as  he  put 
this  question  ;  but  somehow  I  could  not  entirely  believe  in 
this  half-sleep  ;  on  the  contrary  the  impression  grew  stronger 
upon  my  mind  that  my  distinguished  host  was  playing  with 
very  laudable  skill,  a  well  concerted  part.  So  his  confiden- 
tial communications  only  made  me  distrustful,  and  with  a 

25 


578  Hammer  and  Anvit.  ' 

reserve  that  was  otherwise  foreign  to  my  nature,  I  deter- 
mined to  wait  and  see  whither  this  singular  discourse  was 
really  tending.  The  prince  probably  expected  to  produce  a 
different  effect  upon  me,  for  he  presently  added,  with  eyelids 
half  closed. 

"  You  once  felt  an  interest  in  the  lady  of  whom  we  are 
speaking,  did  you  not .''  "  ,| 

"  Yes,"  I  answered. 

"  Your  answer  soimds  as  if  j-ou  no  longer  felt  that  interest." 

"  Not  to  my  knowledge,"  I  replied. , 

"  Indeed  t  "  said  the  prince,  opening  his  handsome  wearied 
eyes  wide  for  a  moment,  and  looking  me  full  in  the  face ; 
"  Indeed  ?  that  is  precisely  the  opposite  of  what  Zehren  has 
informed  me." 

"  I  do  not  think  that  Arthur — that  Herr  von  Zehren — can 
give  any  information  concerning  me,  that  has  even  the 
shadow  of  credibility,"  I  answered. 

"  Very  possible,"  replied  the  prince,  "  very  possible  :  his 
veracity  is  by  no  means  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt : 
indeed  I  frequently  permit  myself  to  assume  the  exact  oppo- 
site of  what  he  pleases  to  tell  me.  For  example,  I  am  per- 
fectly convinced  that  he  was  decidedly  in  error  when  he  as- 
sured me  that  the  charming  young  artist  at  whose  house  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you,  would  be  gratified  by  my 
attentions.     The  reverse  seems  to  have  been  the  case." 

The  prince  looked  at  me  as  if  he  expected  an  answer,  but 
I  replied  only  by  an  ambiguous  gesture. 

"  Nor  am  I  any  more  sure  of  the  final  disposal  of  a  certain 
insignificant  sum  of  money  which  I  entrusted  to  him  on  the 
same  day,  if  I  remember  rightly,  for  a  special  purpose.  I 
beg  you  !  You  need  not  say  anything — I  am  now  satisfied. 
My  friend  Zehren  is  very  little  troubled  with  over-scrupu- 
lousness " — the  prince  made  a  slight  gesture  of  contempt — 
"  very  little  indeed.  It  is  really  high  time  that  he  had  set- 
tled himself :  such  men  as  he,  in  a  desperate  position,  are 
hopelessly  ruined.  Well,  he  has  at  present  a  capital  oppor- 
tunity for  settling  himself:  I  congratulate  him  upon  it !  " 

I  felt  how  at  these  words  of  the  prince,  which  could  only 
be  interpreted  in  one  way,  the  blood  rushed  to  my  cheeks 
and  brow  ;  but  I  controlled  myself  as  well  as  I  could,  and 
only  replied ; 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  579 

"  I  think  your  highness  just  remarked  that  you  were  dis- 
posed in  certain  cases  to  take  for  granted  the  precise  oppo- 
site of  what  Arthur  thinks  fit  to  inform  you." 

"  Indeed  !  "  said  the  prince.  "  I  should  be  sorry  for  that 
in  this  case.  I  mean  on  his  account ;  though  I  could  not 
exactly  congratulate  the  young  lady,  whom  I  have  not  the 
honor  to  know,  upon  the  match.  But  this  time  I  do  believe 
the  statement,  because  all  the  circumstances  seem  to  confirm 
it.  I  have  had  several  interviews  with  the  old  man :  he  is  a 
horrible — what  shall  I  say  ? — roturier,  and  like  all  the  rest 
of  his  class,  greedy  after  respectable  connections,  and  dis- 
tinctions of  every  kind.  This  very  morning  he  intimated  to 
me  through  the  justizrath  that  he  would  make  more  favor- 
able propositions  in  the  matter  of  the  sale  of  Zehrendorf, 
provided  I  would  obtain  for  him  from  my  father  the  title  of 
privy-councillor,  or  the  order  of  the  third  class ;  he  has  con- 
trived in  some  way  already  to  get  the  fourth.  For  such  peo- 
ple it  is  the  height  of  happiness  if  they  can  marry  a  daugh- 
ter, and  especially  an  only  daughter,  into  an  old  family  ;  and 
the  Zehrens  are  an  old  family — there  is  no  disputing  that 
fact.  How  the  young  lady  views  the  matter,  I  do  not  know  ; 
probably  not  differently  from  other  young  women  in  her  rank 
of  life.  Indeed,  it  would  be  a  very  serious  matter  if  Zehren 
had  deceived  me  in  this  affair,  and  I  should  not  readily  for- 
give him.  On  this  representation  I  have  paid  his  debts  for 
him  ;  and  what  is  just  now  more  important  for  me,  he  has 
promised  to  use  all  his  influence  with  his  prospective  father- 
in-law  to  bring  about  the  sale  of  Zehrendorf.  And  on  your 
account  also,  Herr  Hartwig,  I  shpuld  regret  it,  for  I  devised 
a  plan  which  I  think  it  would  interest  you  to  hear,  and  to 
communicate  which  to  you  was  the  main  reason  for  my  re- 
questing the  honor  ot  an  interview  this  afternoon.  I  had 
the  idea,  namely,  that  it  would  be  agreeable  for  you,  and  per- 
haps open  you  a  future  career,  if  I  asked  you,  after  the  pur- 
chase of  Zehrendorf  has  been  consummated,  to  help  me  in 
its  management,  and  in  that  of  some  other  estates  here. 
The  prince,  my  father,  insists  upon  my  undertaking  the  ad- 
ministration of  these  estates,  before  he  re-admits  rae  to  his 
favor.  Now  for  more  than  one  cause  I  am  very  anxious  for 
this  reconciliation  ;  but  the  condition  he  attaches  to  it  is  less 
easy  of  accomplishment,  and  the  acquisition  of  a  man  of 


580  Hammer  and  Anvil.  1 

whom  I  have  heard  so  much  that  was  to  his  honor,  who  has 
borne  himself  so  well  in  many  a  trying  situation,  and — what 
I  consider  of  most  importance — whom  I  have  myself  learned 
to  know  as  a  perfect  gentleman — the  acquisition  of  such  a 
man  I  should  value  highly,  yes,  inexpressibly." 

For  the  first  time  during  our  conversation  the  prince  had 
spoken  with  a  warmth  which  was  not  without  an  effect  upon 
my  susceptible  nature,  and  at  his  last  words  he  bowed  grace- 
fully to  me,  and  a  kind  and  friendly  smile  brightened  his 
pale  refined  face.  It  was  a  noble  and  most  inviting  offer 
that  he  made  me  ;  I  felt  that,  and  I  also  felt  that  under 
other  circumstances  I  would  have  accepted  it  without  hesi- 
tation ;  but  as  it  was 

"  You  are  a  cautious  man,"  said  the  prince,  after  politely 
waiting  a  little  while  for  my  answer.  "  You  are  thinking, 
*  Will  Prince  Prora  keep  the  promise  he  makes  me  ?  and  will 
he  be  able  to  keep  it  1 '  On  this  point  I  think  I  can  satisfy 
you.  The  prince,  my  father,  must  be  no  less  desirous  of  this 
reconciliation  than  I  am  myself ;  he  would  eagerly  welcome 
the  first  advances  from  my  side,  and  reward  me  with  princely 
magnanimity  for  the  first  results  that  I  was  able  to  produce. 
I  believe  even  that  he  would  at  once  place  all  our  estates  in 
this  part  of  the  country  under  my  charge.  This  at  the  be- 
ginning would  be  a  field  of  action  which  I  should  think  would 
be  satisfactory  to  your  ambition — ^you  are  a  little  ambitious 
are  you  not  ?  As  for  myself,  you  would  have  every  reason 
to  be  content  with  me.  I  am  by  nature  rather  indolent,  and 
my  training  has  not  done  much  to  eradicate  that  natural 
fault ;  I  should  give  you  uncontrolled  authority,  or,  at  least 
you  would  always  find  me  inclined  to  agree  with  whatever 
was  reasonable.  Under  no  circumstances  would  I  be  a  hard 
landlord  ;  and  as  you  are  unfortunately  not  in  the  position 
to — how  shall  I  express  it  ?  you  understand  what  I  mean — 
why  should  you  not  give  me  your  service  as  freely — more 
freely,  I  flatter  myself— than  to  that  horrible  plebeian  over 
yonder  .-•  whose  affairs,  moreover,  as  I  learn  on  good  author- 
ity, are  by  no  means  in  the  most  prosperous  condition." 

While  the  prince  was  speaking,  I  had  been  putting  to  my- 
self the  question  with  which  he  concluded,  and  answered 
myself  that  in  reality  I  could  see  no  reason  why  my  activity 
could  not  work  as  effectively  for  good  in  this  new  field  as  in 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  581 

the  old.     And  yet  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  accept  the 
offer.     It  is  so  hard  for  one  to  renounce  a  favorite  dream. 

"  I  see  my  proposition  appears  somewhat  to  embarrass  you," 
said  the  prince,  a  little  piqued,  as  I  fancied,  by  my  hesitation. 
"Well,  I  will  not  urge  you:  think  the  matter  over;  you  have 
my  word,  and  I  will  let  it  stand  for  a  few  days.  I  am  here 
for  the  purpose  of  practising  patience,  as  it  seems.  Then  in 
a  few  days  I  promise  myself  this  pleasure  again." 

He  bowed  to  me  from  his  sofa-corner  as  if  to  intimate  that 
the  conversation  was  at  an  end,  when  the  rapid  tramp  of  a 
horse  was  heard  under  the  window, 

"  Who  can  that  be  ? "  said  the  prince,  and  touched  the  silver 
bell  on  the  table.  But  in  the  same  instant  the  old  servant 
entered  followed  by  an  equerry  with  a  sealed  letter  in  his 
hand.  The  old  man  was  very  pale  and  the  equerry  very  red, 
but  both  had  such  agitated  faces  that  the  prince  exclaimed 
hastily,  "  What  upon  earth  is  the  matter  ?  " 

"  A  letter  from  his  high — I  should  say  from  Herr  Chan- 
cellor Henzel,"  said  the  old  man,  taking  the  letter  from  the 
courier's  hand  and  handing  it  to  the  prince  without  thinking 
to  place  it  upon  the  salver  which  he  was  holding  in  his  other 
hand  for  this  purpose.  He  must  have  been  informed  of  the 
contents  of  the  letter  by  the  messenger. 

The  prince  broke  open  the  large  seal,  and  I  remarked 
that  while  he  hastily  ran  over  the  contents  of  the  letter,  his 
hands  began  to  tremble  violently.  Then  he  looked  up  and 
said  with  a  voice  which  he  evidently  tried  to  keep  as  steady 
as  possible ; 

"  His  highness  has  had  an  attack  of  apoplexy.  Saddle 
Lady,  or  better,  Brownlock,  he  is  faster.  Albert  can  take 
Essex  and  come  with  me.  Be  quick  about  it ! "  and  he 
stamped  impatiently. 

The  equerry  hurried  out  of  the  door,  and  the  old  servant 
ran  through  another  door  which  I  had  not  observed,  into  an 
adjoining  room,  probably  to  pack  up  such  things  as  were 
necessary  for  his  master  to  take. 

As  the  prince,  who  was  pacing  the  room  with  unsteady 
steps,  did  not  seem  to  notice  that  I  was  still  there,  I  was 
about  trying  to  slip  away  unperceived,  when  he  suddenly 
stopped  before  me,  and  looking  at  me  with  an  attempt  to 
smile,  said: 


S82 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"  Now  see  how  hard  it  is  for  one  in  my  position  to  become 
an  orderly  man.  I  am  just  about  making  the  attempt,  and 
I  am  called  away  in  another  direction.  Now,  farewell,  and 
let  me  soon  hear  from  you.  Remember,  you  have  my  word, 
and  I  shall  now  probably  need  you  more  than  ever.  Fare- 
well !" 

He  gave  me  his  hand,  which  I  pressed  warmly. 

Five  minutes  later,  as  I  was  going  back  on  foot  through  ' 
the  pine  woods — I  had  declined  the  carriage  which  had  been 
kept  harnessed  for  me — I  heard  horses  behind  me.  It  was 
the  young  prince,  with  a  groom  following  him.  As  he  flew 
by  me  at  full  gallop,  he  waved  his  hand  in  friendly  salutation, 
and  in  the  next  instant  both  riders  had  disappeared  among 
the  thick  trunks  and  the  trampling  of  their  horses  g^rew 
fainter  and  ceased  to  sound  in  the  dim  forest. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


THE  following  day  was  unusually  hot  and  close  for  the 
time  of  year.  At  sunrise  gray  storm-clouds  had  ap- 
peared in  the  east,  and  hung  threatening  in  the  hor- 
izon, while  the  sun  in  all  his  splendor  was  ascending  the 
bright  sky.  I,  who  from  childhood  had  always  been  pecul- 
iarly sensitive  to  atmospheric  changes,  felt  uneasily  the  elec- 
tric tension  of  the  air.  On  my  brow  I  had  a  sense  of  con- 
stant pressure,  a  singular  disquiet  agitated  my  nerves,  and 
my  blood  seemed  to  course  laboriously  through  my  veins. 
To  be  sure  these  feelings  of  mine  were  not  due  to  the 
weather  alone. 

Something  else  was  in  the  air ;  something  that  gave  me 
more  uneasiness  than  the  threatened  storm,  something  that 
I  could  not  define  ;  the  obscure  feeling  of  the  intolerable  po- 
sition in  which  I  found  myself  here,  and  that  in  some  way  it 
must  be  brought  to  an  end — if  it  had  not  come  to  an  end 
already. 

However  that  might  be,  I  had  time  enough  to-day  to  think 
it  all  over. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  5^3 

No  one  was  here  to  disturb  my  reflections  :  Zehrendorf 
seemed  uninhabited.  The  excursion  to  the  Schlachtensee 
which  had  been  arranged  the  day  before,  had  been  carried 
out  at  about  ten  o'clock,  not  without  some  trifling  variations 
of  the  original  programme.  Whether  it  was  because  the  last 
attempt  to  make  a  horsewoman  of  Friiulein  Duff"  had  failed 
so  lamentably,  or  from  some  other  reason,  Hermine  had 
given  up  her  intention  of  going  on  horseback  with  her  gov- 
erness and  Arthur,  and  the  whole  company  had  gone  in 
three  carriages.  The  steuerrath  and  the  Born  had  also 
joined  the  party;  which  was  another  variation  from  the  pro- 
gramme, introduced  on  account  of  the  two  Eleonoras,  who 
had  unanimously  protested — they  were  always  unanimous — 
that  they  could  not  possibly  share  in  an  excursion  to  last  the 
whole  day,  that  was  composed  of  young  people  only.  The 
two  dignitaries  had  vehemently  resisted  the  honor  proposed 
to  them,  but  yielded  at  last,  of  course.  How  could  they  do 
otherwise  ?  Not  easily  again  would  they  find  such  another 
opportunity  to  forward  their  favorite  scheme. 

A  third  variation  had  also  taken  place,  which,  if  I  could 
credit  Friiulein  Duff",  I  had  brought  about.  True,  appear- 
ances seemed  to  confirm  her  statement,  but  only  appear- 
ances. 

When  I  returned  to  Zehrendorf  from  my  visit  to  Rossow, 
as  I  went  to  my  own  room  I  had  to  pass  through  the  parlor 
where  the  whole  company  were  assembled.  Hermine  was 
sitting  at  the  piano  playing  a  noisy  piece,  which  she  suddenly 
stopped  as,  after  silently  bowing  to  the  company,  I  had  my 
hand  on  the  knob  of  the  door  to  pass  out.  Involuntarily  I 
turned  at  the  sound  of  the  discord  with  which  she  closed, 
and  in  the  next  moment  I  saw  her  standing  before  me,  with 
pale  features  and  a  strange  light  in  her  large  blue  eyes,  and 
with  quivering  lips  saying  something  which  she  had  to  repeat 
before  I  could  understand  it.  They  hoped  I  had  taken  the 
jest  of  to-day  as  it  was  meant,  and  not  deprive  their  little 
party  to-morrow  of  the  pleasure  of  my  company,  on  which 
they  had  certainly  counted. 

The  company  who  had  been  hitherto  conversing  with 
especial  animation,  and  had  scarcely  appeared  to  notice  my 
presence,  were  suddenly  silent,  and  this  was  probably  the 
reason  that  I  heard  my  own  answer  with  startling  distinct- 


584  Hammer  and  Anvil.  j 

ness,  almost  as  if  it  was  not  I  but  another  who  had  spoken 
with  an  altogether  strange  voice  : 

"  I  thank  you,  Fraulein  :  but  you  were  perfectly  right ;  I 
cannot  be  counted  upon  on  these  occasions. " 

Next  I  found  myself  outside  in  the  hall,  trembling  in  every 
limb  of  my  strong  body,  with  sharp  pain  in  my  heart  and  a 
burning  desire  to  cry  out  aloud,  and  then  I  pressed  both 
hands  upon  my  breast,  and  said  to  myself,  with  deeply-drawn 
breath  and  trembling  lips,  "  Thank  heaven,  it  is  all  over." 

To  this  thought  I  held  fast  all  the  long  night  while  I  paced 
sleepless  up  and  down  my  carpeted  room,  or  stood  at  the 
open  window  cooling  my  burning  brow  in  the  night  air,  or 
throwing  myself  upon  the  divan  to  sink  into  painful  thought. 

All  over;  all  over  !  despite  the  note  that  Fraulein  Duff 
sent  about  midnight  to  my  room  by  the  hands  of  my  now 
devoted  William,  and  in  which  in  her  queer  fantastic  way 
she  assured  me  that  Hermine  had  been  looking  forward  for 
two  weeks  to  this  excursion  only  because  she  was  to  make  it 
with  me,  and  indeed  had  planned  it  with  no  other  view;  and 
she  asked  whether  the  good  should  give  place  to  the  evil, 
and  whether  love  did  not  believe  all  things  and  endure  all 
things,  especially  when  it  might  be  convinced  that  what  oc- 
casioned Its  severest  sufferings  were  themselves  but  love- 
torments  ? 

Love  ?  Was  this,  could  this  be  love  ?  Love,  she  said,  en- 
dured all  things  and  believed  all  things.  True  :  but  it  also 
is  not  puffed  up,  does  not  behave  unseemly,  and  thinks  no 
evil.  Is  this  love .''  Is  it  not  rather  selfishness,  vanity,  ca- 
price, the  caprice  of  a  spoiled  child  which  now  kisses  its  doll 
and  the  next  moment  flings  it  on  the  ground,  for  which  the 
whole  world  is  only  a  bright  soap-bubble  that  for  its  especial 
pleasure  glitters  in  the  sunshine  of  its  fortune  ?  Well,  this 
may  be  love — one  kind  of  love  ;  but  I  do  not  fancy  this  kind 
and  will  not  have  it,  and  it  is  all  over. 

Had  I  not  known  another  kind  of  love  ?  A  firm,  deeply- 
rooted,  beneficent  love  that  brought  blessings  wherever  it 
was  given.  If  this  love  had  never  been  bestowed  on  me, 
did  I  any  the  less  know  that  it  existed  ?  And  if  she  had 
never  loved  me  as  she  was  capable  of  loving,  and  would 
some  day  love  another,  had  I  not  tasted  a  drop  at  least  of 
this  pure  fountain  of  living  water,  and  drunk  from  this  single 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


58s 


drop  courage  and  refreshment,  far  more  than  from  all  this 
torrent  which  rushes  so  exuberantly  to-day,  and  to-morrow 
will  have  vanished  without  a  trace  into  the  sand — the  sand 
of  her  selfishness  and  caprice  ?  No !  it  must  all  be  over, 
and  it  was  all  over. 

Thus  all  night  long  thoughts  whirled  and  burned  in  my 
head  and  heart,  until  day  broke — a  bright  day,  but  heavy 
with  brooding  storm — and  found  me  feverish  and  exhausted; 
but  I  aroused  myself  with  a  strong  resolution  and  said  to 
myself : 

"  So  be  it !  Let  all  be  over  and  past !  Perhaps  it  is  well 
that  all  has  happened  thus,  and  that  I  am  given  back  to  my- 
self and  to  my  duties." 

And  I  remained  in  my  room  until  it  was  time  to  go  to  the 
chalk-quarry,  where  the  machine  was  to  be  operated  to-day 
for  the  first  time.  At  about  ten  o'clock  I  returned  to  report 
to  the  commerzienrath,  as  he  had  requested,  that  all  had  suc- 
ceeded beyond  our  expectations,  and  that  our  prospect  of 
mastering  the  water  had  now  become  a  certainty. 

In  the  meantime  the  excursionists  had  started,  as  William, 
who  remained  behind  to  wait  upon  me,  informed  me,  to- 
gether with  a  multitude  of  details,  which  the  rascal's  hawk-^ 
eyes  were  quick  to  catch,  and  his  indiscreet  mouth  eager  to 
blab.  The  young  lady  had  seemed  in  the  very  gayest  humor, 
until  Leo,  her  mastiff,  could  not  be  induced,  either  by  ca- 
resses or  threats,  to  go  along  with  them.  "  He  has  been 
treated  too  badly  of  late,"  said  William,  "  and  we  notice — I 
mean  an  animal  notices  anything  like  that."  And  at  the 
last  moment  Herr  and  Frau  von  Granow  drove  up,  though 
they  had  not  been  invited,  and  they  could  not  avoid  asking 
them  to  go  along. 

"  I  tell  you,  Herr  Engineer,  the  whole  thing  looked  more 
like  a  funeral  than  a  pic-nic  party.  But  the  two  young 
ladies — "  here  William  Kluckhuhn  grinned — "  you  ought  to 
have  seen  them,  Herr  Engineer !  All  in  white  with  green 
ribbons — real  snow-drops,  I  tell  you  !  " 

I  was  little  in  the  mood  to  hear  William's  report  to  the 
end,  and  interrupted  it  by  asking  for  the  commerzienrath. 

"  Gone  to  Uselin  with  the  old  justizrath  to  keep  some  ap- 
pointment, and  will  hardly  be  back  before  evening." 

This  news  somewhat  surprised  me.     The  commerzienrath 

25* 


586  Hammer  and  Anvil.  \ 

had  known  nothing  the  previous  evening  of  this  appoint- 
ment which  would  keep  him  all  day,  for  he  had  appointed 
this  very  morning  for  an  interview  with  me  in  which  very 
important  business  was  to  be  discussed.  For  the  report 
which  I  had  brought  him  of  the  precarious  condition  of  the 
old  prince  had  thrown  our  prospects  of  selling  Zehrendorf 
into  the  dim  distance,  and  indeed  rendered  them  very  im- 
probable. What  would  the  young  prince,  if  he  succeeded 
his  father  and  came  into  full  possession  of  all  the  property, 
care  for  one  estate  more  or  less .'' 

"  In  reality,  the  old  man  cares  very  little  about  it,"  the 
commerzienrath  always  said  ;  "  but  the  young  one  is  to  win 
his  spurs  by  the  purchase,  and  show  that  he  can  manage 
business  of  the  sort.  The  young  man  knows  this  very  well, 
and  for  that  reason  he  will  take  down  the  hook,  however  un- 
inviting the  bait  may  be  ;  you  may  rely  upon  that." 

Thus  the  commerzienrath  had  reckoned  :  very  falsely  as 
affairs  now  stood.  My  yesterday's  intelligence  had  visibly 
caused  him  great  alarm.  It  was  extremely  odd  that  he  had 
to  go  to  the  city  just  to-day. 

Or  did  he  merely  wish  to  get  out  of  my  way,  now  that  he 
had  so  perfectly  gained  his  point  of  bringing  me  into  dis- 
favor with  Hermine  ?  Did  he  need  me  no  more,  now  that 
the  machine  was  set  up  and  the  negotiation  with  the  prince 
virtually  fallen  through  .'' 

Very  possible  ;  very  possible  ;  but  perhaps  I  needed  him 
still  less ;  perhaps  I  was  in  a  position  to  bid  him  farewell 
before  he  gave  me  a  dismissal.  This  absence  of  the  man, 
which  seemed  like  a  flight  from  me,  came  at  this  moment  as 
a  warning  to  accept  the  tempting  offer  of  the  young  prince. 
What  had  I  thus  far  attained  from  the  commerzienrath  in 
furtherance  of  my  own  aims  ?  Abundance  of  promises,  a 
flood  of  compliments — and  that  was  all,  and  so  it  would  evi- 
dently remain,  especially  if  he  did  not  sell  Zehrendorf,  and 
was  thus  released  from  his  promise  to  me  about  the  factory : 
yes,  and  very  probably  even  though  the  sale  were  still  ef- 
fected. 

For  there  were  but  few  things  that  the  commerzienrath 
held  sacred,  and  I  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  his  word 
was  not  one  of  them.  Thus  he  had  promised  me  not  to  dis- 
miss the  foreman  of  the  saw-mill,  to  whom  he  had  already 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  587 

given  notice ;  and  as  I  passed  the  mill  this  morning  it  was 
not  running,  and  a  workman  told  me  that  the  master  had 
been  there  the  previous  evening  while  I  was  at  Rossovv,  and 
after  a  short  conversation  dismissed  the  foreman  on  the  spot. 

There  was  an  instance  ;  but  it  was  merely  the  most  re- 
cent; I  had  caught  him  more  than  once  in  these  breaches 
of  his  word.  No,  indeed,  the  man  did  not  seem  a  likely 
proselyte  to  my  religion  of  humanity ! 

And  the  prince  >.  The  more  distinctly  I  recalled  to  mem- 
ory the  particulars  of  our  yesterday's  conversation,  the  more 
vividly  his  face  arose  before  me,  so  much  the  more  did  I  be- 
lieve that  I  discovered  the  stamp  of  an  honorable  and  kindly 
nature  in  his  features,  and  felt  confident  that  it  would  well 
repay  me  to  attach  myself  to  him.  It  is  a  hard  matter  to 
remain  entirely  unmoved  when  any  one  approaches  us  with 
marked  good  will,  especially  when  our  well-wisher  is  a  per- 
son of  high  rank  and  great  influence.  Now  I  cannot  say 
that  either  then  or  at  any  time  I  should  have  considered  a 
prince's  favor  the  height  of  earthly  felicity  ;  but  neither  can 
I  deny  that,  at  that  time  at  least,  the  reverence  for  dignities 
in  which  I  had  been  brought  up,  helped  to  place  this  behav- 
ior of  the  young  prince  in  its  most  favorable  light  I 
thought  that  I  had  now  found  the  key  to  the  conduct  which 
yesterday  had  seemed  so  enigmatical ;  and  I  highly  prized 
the  delicacy  with  which  he  had  cleared  out  of  the  way  what 
he  knew  lay  as  a  stumbling-block  between  us,  before  he  dis- 
closed his  real  object.  He  had  made  no  allusion  to  the 
scene  in  Zehrendorf  forest  nine  years  before ;  but  he  had 
never  forgotten  that  I  had  then  spared  him,  and  why  I  had 
done  so,  and  had  attempted  in  this  way  to  cancel  the  obli- 
gation. 

I  had  to  admit  to  myself  that,  all  things  considered,  the 
procedure  was  noble  and  chivalrous  on  his  part.  So  he  had 
explained  to  me  the  reason  of  his  visit  to  Paula's  studio,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  apologized  for  his  conduct  there  ;  and  if 
his  attempt  on  the  same  day  to  clear  scores  with  me  was 
premature  and  unbecoming,  he  had  more  than  compensated 
for  it  in  my  eyes  by  his  present  magnanimous  and  important 
proposal. 

For  it  was  both.  Magnanimous,  when  I  considered  the 
open  loyal  way  in  which  he  made  it,  with  no  manoeuvrings, 


588  Hammer  and  Anvil.  j 

no  bargaining  nor  chaffering ;  important,  when  I  admitted 
to  myself,  as  I  had  to  do,  that  if  it  was  really  his  wish  to 
provide  me  with  a  wider  field  of  operations,  he  was  fully  in 
a  position  to  realize  his  promises.  Granting  that  the  com- 
merzienrath  was  what  he  pretended  to  be — though  on  this 
point  my  doubts  had  rather  increased  than  diminished — but 
granting  that  he  was  the  wealthy  and  influential  man  he  was 
generally  thought,  what  was  his  wealth  and  influence  com- 
pared with  those  of  a  Prince  of  Prora-Wiek  ?  As  a  school- 
boy I  had  known,  like  every  one  else  in  the  town,  and  I  be- 
lieve every  inhabitant  of  our  province,  that  upon  the  island 
alone  the  prince  owned  a  hundred  and  twenty  estates  ;  then 
the  small  town  of  Prora,  the  residence — in  which  there  was 
now  probably  agitation  enough  in  conse(5[uence  of  its  lord's 
sudden  illness — which  stood  entirely  upon  the  prince's  land  ; 
then  the  hunting-castle  Wiek  with  its  leagues  of  forest ;  the 
Grafschaft  of  Ralow  on  the  mainland  near  Uselin,  where  the 
townsfolk  used  to  make  excursions  to  the  park  in  the  sum- 
mer ;  the  magnificent  palace  at  the  residence,  which  I  had 
often  passed  with  strange  emotions  ;  the  domains  in  Silesia 
with  the  celebrated  iron-works,  the  value  of  which  alone  was 
estimated  at  several  millions — what  was  the  Croesus  of 
Uselin  in  comparison  with  this  real  Croesus,  whose  reve- 
nues for  two  years  probably  amounted  to  as  much  as  the 
commerzienrath's  whole  capital  ?  I  ,,,    .- 

True,  I  had  looked  forward  to  a  far  different  career.  My 
passion  for  mathematical  science,  my  advances  in  the  ma- 
chine-builder's art,  my  hope  some  day  to  be  actively  helpful 
in  promoting  the  development  of  railroad  industry,  the  plans  I 
had  so  often  devised  with  worthy  Doctor  Snellius  for  the  good 
of  the  working  classes — it  was  no  pleasant  thought  to  have 
to  give  up  all  this.  But  had  I  then  to  give  it  up  ?  Was  it 
not  in  reality  the  same  thing  whether  I  worked  here  or  there, 
in  this  manner  or  in  that,  so  that  I  only  worked  and  strove 
in  the  noble  spirit  of  my  unforgotten  teacher  and  of  my  true- 
hearted  friend  ?  Assuredly  I  might  in  that  spirit  accept  the 
prince's  offer,  and  Paula  would  not  be  dissatisfied  with  me, 
for  her  thoughts  and  wishes,  like  those  of  her  noble-hearted 
father,  were  only  bent  upon  goodness  in  every  form.  I  felt 
that  it  would  not  be  difficult  for  me  to  show  her  how  in  this 
sphere  I  would  have  full  opportunity  to  become  more  worthy 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  5^9 

of  her  than  I  had  ever  been.  And  then— I  had  always  en- 
deavored to  hide  it  from  myself,  because  it  too  rudely  touched 
a  painful  spot  in  my  heart ;  but  now  in  this  sleepless  night 
it  and  many  another  thing  stood  in  sharp  conviction  before 
my  mind— she  had  not  only  let  me  go  because  a  wider  field 
of  usefulness  opened  before  me  ;  she  had  even  sent  me  away, 
because  she  had  compassion  with  me,  because  she  knew  that 
my  deep,  devoted,  reverential  love  found  no  echo  in  her 
heart ;  and  as  a  kindly  nature  never  takes  away  anything 
without  offering,  if  possible,  some  indemnity,  she  had  offered 
my  loving  heart,  that  yearned  for  a  return  of  affection,  the 
fulfilment  of  all  my  wishes  in  a  lovely  fascinating  form,  in 
the  form  of  the  beautiful  wayward  Bacchante  who  had  played 
with  me  as  she  had  played  with  tigers,  leopards,  and  other 
forest-creatures  which  she  was  accustomed  to  yoke  to  her 
chariot.  What  did  Paula's  innocent  heart  know  of  this  dan- 
gerous sport  ?  What  did  she  know  of  the  arts  of  caressing 
with  one  hand  while  the  other  plies  the  lash  ? — of  delighting 
at  one  moment  in  the  free  gambols  of  the  favorite,  and  the 
next  moment  barring  it  into  a  narrow  cage  ?  What  did  Paula 
know  of  all  this  ? 

Had  she  known  it,  would  she  not  be  the  first  to  called  me 
back  and  say : 

"  You  may  and  must  sacrifice  yourself,  if  nothing  less  will 
avail ;  but  you  may  not  throw  yourself  away  ;  and  as  for  my 
wishes  and  yours,  they  are  all  past  and  gone." 

Thus  it  fermented  and  worked  in  my  heated  brain  and  my 
swelling  heart  all  day  long,  while  the  sun  rolled  on  his  glow- 
ing path  through  the  sky,  and  behind  him  clomb  the  gray 
vaporous  clouds  which  had  lowered  on  the  horizon  at  his 
rise.  I  had  looked  up  instinctively  at  the  sky  from  time  to 
time,  as  I  wandered  restlessly  through  the  fields  and  the 
heath,  tormented  by  my  thoughts,  and  oppressed  by  the  threat- 
ening storm,  and  so  possessed  by  the  emotions  within  me 
and  the  ominous  preparations  without,  that  I  had  lost  my 
consciousness  of  place  and  time,  found  myself  now  in  the 
evening  twilight  on  the  road  to  Trantowitz,  the  same  road 
along  which  I  had  driven  to  Rosso w,  and  which  was  also  the 
road  by  which  the  excursionists  would  return,  without  know- 
ing how  I  had  got  there  or  why  I  had  come.  Certainly  not 
to  visit  Hans,  who  was  with  the  party.     Still  I  pushed  on,  until 


5 go  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

I  reached  the  ill-kept  broken  hedge  which  divided  Hans's 
famous  garden,  with  its  stunted  fruit-trees,  its  neglected  grass, 
and  its  waste  potato  and  cabbage  patches,  from  the  road. 
Looking  over  the  hedge,  I  thought  that  at  the  further  end 
of  this  melancholy  croft  I  saw  a  tall  figure  which  could  be  no 
other  than  the  good  Hans  himself  I  pushed  through  the 
hedge — an  operation  attended  with  no  difficulty — and  went 
towards  the  figure.     It  was  Hans,  as  I  thought. 

"I  thought  you  were  with  them,"  I  said. 

"  Not  I,"  he  answered,  returning  my  grasp. 

"  But  you  were  invited  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  !  " 

"  And  how  then  are  vou  here  ?  " 

"  Well,  when  I  saw  them  coming  this  morning,  I  got  out 
of  that  window  " — he  pointed  to  the  window  of  his  bed-room 
— "  and  stayed  in  the  woods  until  the  coast  was  clear.  And 
you?" 

"  I  did  not  care  to  go,  either."  ' 

"Indeed!"  exclaimed  Hans. 

We  strolled  for  a  long  time  silently,  side  by  side,  up  and 
down  the  grass-grown  paths.  The  twilight  had  now  grown 
so  dim  that  color  could  no  longer  be  distinguished.  The 
air  was  inexpressibly  sultry  and  oppressive,  heat-lightnings 
flickered  every  now  and  then  in  the  east,  and  from  the  Tran- 
towitz  woods,  an  angle  of  which  reached  down  near  us,  came 
the  song  of  the  nightingale  in  long-drawn  wailing  tones. 

"  It  is  suffocating  !  "  I  said,  turning  into  a  sort  of  ruinous 
arbor  that  we  had  reached  in  our  walk,  and  throwing  myself 
upon  one  of  the  mouldering  benches  in  it,  I  pulled  off  my 
coat  and  waistcoat. 

Hans  made  no  reply,  but  silently  proceeded  to  his  bed- 
room window,  through  which  I  saw  his  gigantic  figure  disap- 
pear, and  re-appear  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes.  He 
rejoined  me  with  a  couple  of  glasses  in  his  hand  and  two 
bottles  of  wine  under  his  arm,  which  he  set  down  on  the  old 
table,  drew  two  more  bottles  out  of  his  coat  pockets  and  laid 
them  on  the  sand,  pulled  out  his  hunting-knife  and  uncorked 
the  first  pair,  and  then  pushing  one  over  to  me,  remarked  : 

"  Drink  off  the  half  or  the  whole  of  that  and  you  will  feel 
better." 

That  was  just  the  old  Hans  exactly,  with  his  universal 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  591 

specific  against  all  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune  ! 
Alas,  it  had  proved  but  a  poor  panacea  to  the  good  fellow, 
and  would  probably  be  of  little  service  to  me,  but  I  could 
not  help  feeling  how  kindly  he  meant  it,  and  my  hand  trem- 
bled as  I  poured  the  wine  for  both,  and  my  voice  was  un- 
steady as  I  clinked  glasses  with  him,  saying : 

"  To  your  health,  dear  Hans,  and  a  better  future  to  both 
of  us." 

"  Don't  know  where   it   is  to   come  from  for  me,"  said 

Hans,  draining  his  glass  at  a  draught,  and  filling  both  again. 

"  Hans,  my  dear   good  fellow,"  I  said,    "  please   don't 

speak  in  that  dismal  tone  :  I  cannot  stand  it  this  evening  : 

I  feel  every  moment  as  if  my  heart  was  about  to  break." 

Hans  was  about  to  push  the  bottle  to  me  again,  but  re- 
membered that  I  had  already  declined  his  universal  specific, 
so  he  handed  his  cigar-case  to  me  across  the  table. 

In  a  minute  two  bright  points  were  glowing  in  the  dark 
arbor,  throwing  a  faint  glimmer  upon  the  rickety  table  with 
the  bottles,  and  upon  the  faces  of  two  men  that  leaned  over 
it  in  a  long  confidential  conversation. 

"  It  is  so,"   said  one  at  last. 

"  You  will  find  yourself  mistaken,  as  I  was,"  replied  the 
other. 

"  I  think  not.  How  long  ago  was  it — ^yesterday,  I  believe 
— or  it  might  have  been  the  day  before ;  I  don't  keep  any 
reckoning  of  the  days — I  met  her  on  the  road  to  Rossow, 
and  we  rode  together  two  or  three  miles,  and  the  whole  time 
she  was  talking  of  nothing  but  you." 

"  She  must  have  been  sadly  in  want  of  a  topic  of  conver- 
sation." 

"  And  she  cried,  too,  poor  thing !  I  was  sorry  for  her, 
and  have  ever  since  had  it  on  my  mind  to  tell  you  that  you 
must  really  bring  the  matter  to  a  close." 

A  long  silence  followed.  The  third  bottle  was  uncorked, 
the  bright  points  still  glowed,  while  the  darkness  sank  ever 
deeper,  and  the  noiseless  sheet-lightning  flickered  from  mo- 
ment to  moment. 

"  But  you  are  not  drinking,"  said  Hans. 

I  did  not  answer :  in  fact  I  had  scarcely  heard  him.  I 
was  hardly  conscious  that  he  was  there  or  where  we  were. 
In  the  darkness  that  surrounded  us  I  saw  her  eyes  beaming  ; 


592  Hanwier  and  Anvil. 

in  the  rustling  of  the  wind  in  the  leaves  I  heard  her  voice. 
And  the  large  blue  eyes  gazed  reproachfully  upon  me,  and 
the  voice  seemed  to  tremble,  and  the  sweet  lips  quivered  as 
they  had  done  yesterday  when  she  asked  me  to  accompany 
them. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?"  asked  Hans.  ' 

I  had  arisen  and  stood  at  the  entrance  of  the  arbor,  gaz- 
ing with  burning  eyes  into  the  darkness.  On  the  western 
horizon  there  was  still  a  thin  pale  streak,  but  elsewhere  the 
sky  seemed  to  cover  the  earth  like  a  black  opaque  pall. 
There  was  a  deep  silence  ;  only  from  time  to  time  strange 
moans  and  whispers  seemed  to  pass  through  the  air,  and  at 
intervals  the  nightingales  in  the  woods  sent  forth  a  plaintive 
sobbing  sound,  as  if  bewailing  the  overthrow  of  a  beautiful 
world  full  of  light  and  love.  Now  and  then  an  electrical  flame 
clove  the  darkness,  and  flickered  strangely  along  the  edges 
of  the  low  heavy  clouds  ;  but  no  thunder  followed  to  break 
the  oppressive  stillness,  and  no  refreshing  rain  came  down 
to  revive  the  exhausted  earth. 

"  Where  are  you  going  1"  asked  Hans  again. 

"  Where  do  you  suppose  they  are  now  ?" 

"  Who  can  tell  ?  Certainly  they  have  not  got  back,  for 
they  must  pass  this  way." 

"  On  the  heath,  between  your  beechwoods  and  the  Rossow 
pines,  the  way  must  be  hard  to  find  in  this  darkness." 

"  It  is  indeed,"  said  Hans.  "  I  once  rode  around  there 
for  two  hours  without  getting  out  of  one  place,  and  the  night 
was  not  as  dark  as  this.  To  be  sure,  we  had  been  drinking 
pretty  freely  at  Fritz  Zarrentin's.  Hallo  !  what  are  you 
about  ?" 

I  was  on  the  point  of  rushing  out ;  and  when  Hans  spoke 
I  grasped  at  my  head,  which  felt  as  if  it  would  burst. 

"  They  may  be  at  that  very  place  now,"  I  muttered. 

"  Don't  go  without  me  !  "  cried  Hans,  as  I  set  off" on  a  run. 

I  stopped  :  he  came  behind  me  and  patted  me  two  or 
three  times  gently  on  the  shoulder  with  his  great  broad 
hand,  saying:  "  So  then,  so  !"  as  if  he  were  quieting  an  ex- 
cited horse.  I  caught  his  hand  and  said,  "  come  along, 
Hans." 

"  Of  course,"  he  said  ;  "  but  we  must  have  two  or  three 
fellows  with  lanterns,  or  we  can  do  nothing." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  593 

"  That  will  keep  us  too  long !  " 

"  Not  five  minutes." 

Hans  strode  by  my  side  across  the  cabbage  patch,  and  to 
avoid  all  detours  went  directly  to,  and  through,  his  bed-room 
window  and  through  his  sitting-room,  and  I  followed  close 
at  his  heels,  for  I  knew  the  way  of  old.  Once  in  the  yard, 
Hans  began  to  pull  with  all  his  might  at  the  cracked  alarm- 
bell  which  hung  there  in  a  sort  of  ruinous  belfry,  and  whose 
unmelodious  clank  used  to  summon  the  men  to  or  from 
work.  They  came  fast  enough  at  the  well-known  signal 
from  their  quarters  and  from  the  stables,  and  before  five 
minutes  were  over  we  had  left  the  yard  and  taken  the  path 
to  the  Trantow  beeches,  followed  by  a  squad  of  men  with 
stable-lanterns. 

The  last  bright  streak  had  faded  from  the  western  horizon, 
and  the  darkness  was  so  intense  that  in  the  woods  it  seemed 
no  darker  than  it  had  been  in  the  open  field.  The  oppres- 
sive sultriness  of  the  atmosphere  had  increased,  if  possible, 
and  now  the  thunder  began  to  mutter,  and  the  tops  of  the 
trees  to  toss  about  in  the  rising  wind.  The  nightingales 
had  hushed  in  expectation  of  the  impending  storm.  Leav- 
ing the  men  with  the  lanterns  far  behind,  I  hurried  through 
the  wood,  followed  closely  at  first  by  Hans,  who  presently 
stopped,  however,  calling  to  me  that  there  was  no  use  for 
such  frantic  haste,  as  we  could  do  nothing  without  the 
lanterns.  I  knew  that  very  well,  but  I  was  urged  on  by  an 
impulse  that  I  could  not  withstand.  What  I  meant  to  do,  I 
could  not  precisely  have  told,  nor  did  I  pause  to  consider ; 
I  only  hurried  forward  wildly  as  if  life  and  death  were  at 
stake.  How  I  got  through  the  woods,  by  a  wretched  path, 
in  the  pitchy  darkness,  without  breaking  arm  or  leg,  or 
dashing  my  skull  against  a  tree,  is  more  than  I  can  explain 
at  this  hour. 

Whether  it  was  the  blue  gleam  of  the  lightnings  which 
flashed  at  intervals  through  the  clear  spaces  in  the  wood,  or 
the  peculiarity  of  my  eyes  which  could  always  distinguish 
objects  a  little,  even  in  the  deepest  darkness,  or  the  excite- 
ment, which  in  certain  moments  seems  to  awaken  dormant 
faculties  within  us,  I  cannot  say ;  I  only  know  that  in  an 
incredibly  short  time  I  had  traversed  the  woods,  and  by  the 
cessation  of  the  rustling,  by  the  stronger  blast  of  the  wind 


594  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

in  my  face,  by  the  altered  sound  of  the  thunder,  and  by  the 
brighter  glare  of  the  lightning,  I  perceived  that  I  was  on  the 
heath.  This  heath  was  about  a  mile  wide,  bounded  on  three 
sides  by  the  Rossow  pine  woods  and  the  Trantowitz  beeches, 
and  on  the  fourth  side,  to  my  left,  joining  the  great  moors  on 
the  coast,  which  ran  up  into  it  in  various  places  in  narrower 
or  wider  strips.  No  tree  grew  over  this  whole  broad  ex- 
panse ;  the  single  mark  which  arrested  the  eye  was  a  hillock, 
overgrown  with  bushes  and  surrounded  by  large  stones — 
doubtless  an  ancient  barrow — which  stood  about  midway  of 
the  distance,  and  served  as  a  boundary  to  mark  the  com- 
mencement of  the  moor.  One  could  hardly  speak  of  a  road 
here,  for  the  way  changed  with  every  season  of  the  year, 
even  with  every  change  of  the  weather  \  travellers  rode, 
drove,  or  walked,  wherever  they  found  it  most  practicable. 
More  than  one  accident  had  happened  here ;  and  even  in 
my  time  a  man  who  tried  to  cross  the  heath  by  night  with  an 
emptv  wagon  had  driven  into  one  of  the  broad  deep  turf- 
pits  and  been  drowned  with  his  team. 

While  I  ran  rather  than  walked  across  the  heath,  the  de- 
tails of  this  accident,  which  I  had  long  forgotten,  came  all 
back  to  my  recollection.  I  remembered  the  man's  name,  and 
that  he  was  betrothed  to  a  young  woman  in  Trantowitz,  a 
pretty  fair-haired  creature,  who  could  not  be  comforted  for 
the  loss  of  her  lover,  and  had  been  seen  weeks  afterwards 
sitting  on  the  mound  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  spot  where  he 
had  perished.  It  struck  me  that  the  poor  pretty  creature 
had  had  a  sliiiht  likeness  to  Hermine. 

A  wild  terror  seized  me,  and  I  suddenly  stood  still,  listen- 
ing into  the  night  with  a  wildly-beating  heart.  I  thought  I  had 
heard  a  faint  cry  at  no  great  distance.  But  from  what  direc- 
tion ?  Before  me  ?  to  the  right  ?  or  to  the  left  ?  Or  was  I 
mistaken  altogether,  and  had  my  excitement  deceived  me 
and  changed  the  wailing  sounds  of  the  wind  to  human  calls 
for  help  .''  There  it  was  again  !  This  time  I  was  not  mis- 
taken, and  I  caught  the  direction  from  which  the  cry  came. 
It  was  exactly  before  me — no,  it  was  on  my  right — no,  on 
my  left.  Certainly  now  it  was  to  the  right.  Then  I  heard 
it  again  nearer,  and  again  from  another  direction,  as  if  the 
ghosts  of  those  who  had  perished  all  over  the  desolate  heath 
had  all  arisen  from  their  marshy  graves  and  were  calling  to 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  595 

each  other.  Nor  could  I  see  a  single  step  before  me :  even 
the  H'^htning  had  ceased  for  some  minutes  :  it  seemed  as  if 
I  could  touch  the  darkness  with  my  hand.  I  cast  a  desper- 
ate glance  around,  and  saw  to  my  unspeakable  joy  the  lights 
of  the  lanterns  approaching,  though  still  at  some  distance. 
I  called  with  all  the  the  power  of  my  lungs  for  them  to  make 
haste  ;  then  hurried  blindly  forward,  and  started  terrified 
back,  as  suddenly,  in  the  glare  of  a  vivid  flash  of  lightning,  I 
saw  just  before  me  the  gigantic  spectrally  white  figure  of  a 
rearing  horse.  I  had  come  upon  one  of  the  carriages,  which 
had  been  abandoned  by  its  occupants,  leaving  the  coachman 
who  had  bravely  stood  to  his  post,  and  strove  in  vain  to  un- 
harness the  horses. 

"  Where  are  the  others  1  "  I  cried,  hastening  to  help  the 
man  without  rightly  knowing  what  I  was  doing. 

"  God  knows,"  he  answered.  "  I  have  had  my  hands  full 
here." 

"  Here  come  men  with  lanterns." 

"  It  is  high  time.     Stand  still,  you  devil's  imp  ! " 

Now  Hans  came  up  with  several  of  the  lantern-bearers. 
The  horses  stood  still,  shivering  with  terror,  and  snorting 
from  their  distended  nostrils  great  clouds  of  steam  in  the 
lantern-light. 

On  the  back  seat  of  the  carriage  lay  a  figure  stretched  at 
full  length.  The  light  of  the  lantern  fell  on  a  pale  haggard 
face — it  was  Arthur. 

"  What  has  happened  to  him  ?  "  I  asked. 

Hans  asked  no  question  :  he  knew  what  had  happened 
when  a  young  man,  who  has  never  learned  to  control  himself; 
lies  stretched  upon  the  back  seat  of  a  carriage  in  his  return 
from  a  picnic,  and  not  all  the  turmoil  of  the  unchained  ele- 
ments can  awaken  him  from  his  stupid  sleep. 

"  Never  mind  about  him,"  said  the  driver ;  "  he  is  safe 
enough." 

"  One  of  you  must  stay  here,"  I  said  to  the  men  with  lan- 
terns.    "  Forward,  the  rest !  " 

We  went  on,  the  men,  of  whom  there  were  five  or  six, 
holding  up  their  lanterns,  and  shouting  all  together  at  inter- 
vals, calling  all  who  might  hear  to  try  to  get  to  us. 

We  were  answered  from  different  points  ;  it  was  now  plain 
that  the  whole  company  was  widelv  scattered.      The  car- 


59^ 


Hammer  atid  Anvil. 


riages  alone  had  kept  somewhat  together  ;  and  a  minute 
hiter  I  came  upon  another  which  had  been  overturned  and 
dashed  to  pieces  by  the  maddened  horses,  so  that  we  had  no 
difficulty  in  getting  them  clear  of  what  remained  of  the  har- 
ness. Then  we  found  the  third,  which  had  turned  a  little  to 
one  side  and  stalled,  sunk  up  to  the  axle  in  a  marshy  place, 
and  the  driver  had  released  the  horses  by  cutting  the  traces. 

It  was  a  strange  and  weird-looking  scene.  The  lightning 
flashed  so  incessantly  that  we  seemed  enveloped  in  its  awful 
glare.  Then  the  shouts  and  cries  of  the  frightened  excur- 
sionists who  came  hurrying  up  from  all  sides,  the  swearing  of 
the  coachmen  and  grooms,  the  snorting  and  struggling  of  the 
scared  horses,  and  amid  all,  the  mutterings  and  long  roll  of 
thunder,  the  whistling  and  shrieking  of  the  gusts  of  wind 
that  every  now  and  then  swept  with  frightful  fury  over  the 
heath,  and  seemed  to  hold  up  the  rain,  of  which  only  occa- 
sional heavy  drops  smote  me  in  the  face  ;  the  whole  com- 
pany, so  far  as  they  were  now  collected,  resembling  a  party 
about  to  be  led  to  execution,  the  men  with  agitated  features, 
and  the  women  pale  as  death,  and  all  bearing  abundant  traces 
of  their  wanderings  about  the  heath  and  the  miry  ground. 

But  if  it  had  been  difficult  to  get  them  together,  I  now 
found  that  it  was  impossible  to  keep  them  so.  All  were  for 
pushing  on  at  once,  Why  waste  a  moment  here  ?  All  were 
together.  In  an  instant  the  rain  would  pour  down  in  tor- 
rents, the  lanterns  be  put  out,  and  what  would  become  of 
them  then  ? 

"  Forward,  my  friends,  forward  !  "  screamed  the  steuerrath, 
and  Herr  von  Granow  also  shouted  "  Forward  !  forward  !  " 
and  in  the  next  moment  all  had  started. 

Amid  the  indescribable  confusion,  the  calling,  shouting, 
hurrying  up  and  down  of  so  many  persons,  I  had  found  it 
impossible  to  make  sure  whether  really  all,  as  they  said, 
were  together ;  but  I  knew  that  I  had  not  seen  her  whom 
alone  I  was  looking  for,  nor  had  I  seen  Friiulein  DufF.  I 
had  imagined  for  some  reason — perhaps  I  had  heard  some 
one  say  it — that  both  ladies  were  in  the  fourth  carriage, 
which  was  behind  the  others,  and  reported  to  be  safe  ;  but 
as  the  company  set  out,  with  the  lanterns  in  front,  this  fourth 
carriage  came  up. 

It  was  the   commerzienrath's  great  family  carriage.      I 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


597 


sprang  to  it  and  looked  in.  There  was  a  pile  of  cloaks  and 
shawls  which  had  been  left  behind  in  the  hurry,  and  Frau- 
lein  Duff,  leaning  back  in  the  corner,  and  looking  at  me,  who 
was  half  wild  with  anxiety,  with  eyes  from  which  extreme 
terror  had  banished  all  expression.  In  vain  did  I  try  to  get 
from  her  where  she  had  left  Hermine.  She  only  muttered, 
as  if  delirious,  "  Seek  faithfully  and  thou  shalt  find,"  and 
then  broke  into  hysterical  weeping. 

Now  Anthony,  who  had  in  the  meantime  been  adjusting 
the  traces,  told  me  that  the  young  lady  had  sprung  from  the 
carriage  not  ten  minutes  before,  just  as  the  lanterns  came 
near.  He  did  not  know  why,  for  the  young  lady  had  not 
been  nearly  so  much  frightened  as  the  rest,  and  had  a  little 
before  said  to  Fraulein  Duff  that  she  might  be  sure  she 
would  not  forsake  her.  He  thought  she  went  over  towards 
the  left,  but  he  was  not  sure,  for  he  had  had  hard  work  to 
manage  the  horses,  that  had  been  quiet  enough  all  along, 
but  now  could  not  be  kept  still. 

With  this  he  mounted  his  seat  and  started  to  follow  the 
others.  I  called  to  him  and  ordered  him  to  stop  ;  but  either 
he  did  not  or  would  not  hear  me,  or  else  he  could  not  hold 
the  horses  any  longer — be  that  as  it  might,  the  next  minute 
I  was  alone,  while  the  company  with  the  lanterns,  under 
Hans's  guidance,  kept  their  way  across  the  heath  towards  the 
woods. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

I  WAS  about  to  hurry  after  them,  and  compel  them  to  give 
me  some  assistance,  when  a  flash  of  lightning  of  unusual 
vividness  showed  me  the  hillock  or  "  giant's  barrow " 
which  lay  about  a  hundred  paces  from  where  I  stood,  and 
which  I  had  not  perceived  before.  Whether  I  expected  to 
get  a  wider  range  of  vision  from  its  top,  or  whether  it  was  an 
mstinctive  impulse,  or  both,  I  do  not  know,  but  in  the  next 
moment  I  was  at  the  foot  of  the  hillock  among  the  great 
stones.  Another  dazzling  flash,  and  a  shudder  seized  me, 
and  my  hair  began  to  rise  on  my  head.     There,  on  the  top, 


598  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

by  the  hazel-bushes  that  were  bent  and  lashfed  by  the  storm, 
surrounded  by  a  spectral  light,  stood  with  loose-flying  hair 
the  unhappy  girl  looking  out  for  her  lover  who  was  drowned 
in  the  morass.  In  an  instant  the  pitchy  darkness  closed 
again,  and  a  crash  of  thunder  drowned  my  sudden  cry. 
Had  I  lost  my  senses  ?  And  instantly,  while  yet  the  thun- 
der crashed  and  the  thick  darkness  surrounded  me,  it  flashed 
upon  me  like  a  heavenly  revelation,  and  my  heart  gave  a 
great  throb,  and  I  gave  a  shout  of  joy,  and  in  a  moment  I 
was  at  the  top  and  had  found  her  and  lifted  her  in  my  arms 
and  shouted  again,  and  she  wound  her  arms  around  me  and 
clung  to  my  breast,  so  close  !  so  close  !  and  1  kneeled  before 
her  and  she  leaned  over  me  and  said  : 

"  Quick,  quick,  here  in  the  dark  where  I  do  not  see  you  ; 
I  love  you  !  I  love  you  !  " 

"  And  I  love  you  !  " 

"  None  but  me  ?  " 

"  None  but  you  !  " 

"  None  but  me  !  none  but  me  !  And  if  the  earth  should 
open  now  and  swallow  us  both — none  but  me  ? " 

"  None,  none  !  " 

Again  came  a  flash  illuminating  everything  for  a  moment 
with  the  brightness  of  day,  and  she  laughed  and  rejoiced 
aloud  and  threw  herself  into  my  arms  crying  : 

"  Now  I  see  you  :  now  I  can  look  at  you  !  Oh  how  lovely 
this  is  !  How  beautiful  you  are  !  Now  carry  me  down  the 
hill  as  far  as  the  stones.  Now  let  me  go,  my  strong  one,  my 
hero,  everything  to  me  !" 

"  Let  me  carry  you  further  ;  I  can  do  it  easily." 

"  I  know  you  can  :  else  would  I  love  you  so  much  ?  But 
now  let  me  go  ;  you  must  not  think  me  a  weakling." 

I  let  her  glide  from  my  arms  upon  one  of  the  great  stones : 
she  laid  her  hands  upon  my  shoulders,  and  I  saw  for  a  mo- 
ment her  sweet  defiant  face  and  her  eyes  that  flashed  as  if 
with  indignation,  as  she  said  in  a  firm  voice : 

"  Never  forget  that  I  am  not  weak  like  other  women  ;  and 
if  you  had  not  come  to  look  for  me  here — yes,  if  you  had 
not  found  me,  I  would  have  drowned  myself  here  in  the  mo- 
rass ;  and  I  will  drown  myself  the  moment  you  cease  to  love 
me.     And  now  come  !" 

She  threw  herself  on  my  breast  and  glided  from  my  arras 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


599 


to  the  ground,  and  we  went  hand  in  hand  over  the  heath, 
the  incessant  lightnings  showing  us  the  pathless  way,  while 
the  thunder  rolled,  and  the  rain  which  had  been  delaying  so 
long  came  down  first  in  heavy  warm  drops,  and  then  in  tor- 
rents. What  cared  we  for  the  storm  and  the  rain?  What 
cared  we  that  we  were  alone  upon  the  heath  ? 

This  was,  indeed,  our  crowning  joy  :  for  me,  to  know  that 
I  had  both  the  right  and  power  to  protect  her,  and  that  I  had 
in  truth  the  strength,  had  there  been  need,  to  carry  my  be- 
loved to  Trantowitz  and  to  Zehrendorf ;  for  her,  to  be  thus 
protected  by  him  she  had  loved  so  long,  who  now  was  all  her 
own,  and  all  had  happened  just  as  her  wayward  heart  and 
romantic  fancy  desired.  And  now  all  came  from  her  lips,  in 
broken  confused  phrases,  in  thoughts  and  fancies  that  gleamed 
and  vanished  like  the  lightnings  around  us,  now  awakening 
one  memory  and  now  another,  just  as  the  objects  around  us 
momently  flashed  out  the  darkness  and  vanished  into  it 
again  ;  the  brown  heath,  the  glimmering  moor-water,  and  in 
the  forest  the  bushes  to  the  right  and  left  and  the  gigantic 
trunks  of  the  trees  whose  great  boughs  were  wildly  tossed 
hither  and  thither  by  the  blast,  with  a  crashing  and  groaning 
and  roaring  as  if  the  world  were  coming  to  an  end.  But  the 
wilder  the  uproar  about  us,  the  more  she  exulted,  and  laughed 
with  delight  when  in  the  noise  we  could  no  longer  understand 
each  other's  words.  She  even  grew  angry  when  after  we 
had  nearly  traversed  the  woods,  two  lanterns  appeared  mov- 
ing rapidly  in  our  direction. 

"  Let  us  run  off,"  she  said,  seriously,  and  then  clapped  her 
hands,  and  we  now  heard  "  Hallo !  Hallo !  "  in  the  good 
Hans's  powerful  voice. 

"  It  is  he  !  "  she  cried ;  "  my  good  Hans,  my  dear  Hans, 
my  best  Hans !  He  shall  hear  it  first  No  one  has  a  better 
right." 

And  now  came  up  Hans,  who  had  hurried  on  ahead  of  the 
two  grooms,  holding  his  lantern  high  to  let  the  light  fall  on 
our  faces,  and  again  shouting  "  Hallo ! "  with  all  the  strength 
of  his  lungs,  but  this  time  for  joy  that  he  had  found  us  so 
happily — so  happily  that  he  set  his  lantern  on  the  ground 
and  shook  both  Hermine's  hands  and  then  mine,  and  then 
hers  again  and  then  mine  again,  all  the  time  saying  "  So,  so ! 
that  is  right !  so,  so  !  "  as  if  we  were  a  pair  of  young  head- 


6oo  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

strong  horses,  with  which  he  had  had  great  trouble,  but  had 
brought  to  reason  at  last. 

The  two  grooms  had  now  come  up.     "  Poor  fellows,"  said 
Hermine,  "they  must   have   pleased  faces  too.     Give  me 
quick  what  you  have  ;  and  you  too  Hans,  giye  me  all  you* 
have,  both  of  you  !  " 

I  emptied  my  purse — there  was  not  much  in  it — into  her 
hands,  and  Hans  rummaged  his  pockets  and  found  some 
crumpled  notes  which  she  took  and  gave  the  two  men  who 
stood  open-mouthed,  not  knowing  what  to  think.  A  couple 
of  thalers  fell  on  the  ground,  and  the  men  said  "  It  would  be 
a  sin  to  leave  the  good  money  lying  there,"  so  commenced 
to  look  for  it,  while  we  three  hastened  on,  and  Hans 
informed  us  that  the  whole  company  was  at  his  house,  and 
that  he  had  harnessed  up  his  farm-wagons — the  only  vehicles 
he  had — to  take  them  to  Zehrendorf,  whither  he  had  sent 
already  a  messenger  on  horseback  to  have  preparation  made. 

"  We  will  both  go,  will  we  not,  George  ?  "  said  Hermine. 
"  Everybody  will  open  their  eyes,  of  course.  It  will  be  a 
droll  sight,  and  I  am  just  in  the  humor  for  it.  O,  I  am  so 
happy,  so  happy  !  " 

It  was  indeed  a  droll  sight  that  presented  itself  to  us  as 
we  entered  the  ruinous  old  mansion  of  Trantowitz.  In  the 
wide  bare  hall,  in  Hans's  narrow  sitting-room,  even  in  the 
sanctuary  of  his  bed-room,  in  the  kitchen,  which  was  entered 
from  the  hall,  the  unlucky  excursionists  were  rambling  and 
pushing  about,  calling,  scolding,  crying,  laughing,  according 
as  they  were  more  or  less  able  to  accommodate  themselves 
to  the  situation.  To  the  more  able  belonged  without  ques- 
tion Fritz  von  Zarrentin  and  his  little  wife,  who  were  alto- 
gether the  joUiest,  most  comfortable,  and  at  the  same  time 
most  good-natured  people  in  the  world,  though  in  the  storm 
they  had  not  distinguished  themselves  by  their  courage  any 
more  than  the  rest.  But  now  Fritz,  who  was  in  the  kitchen 
brewing  a  bowl  of  punch  with  the  assistance  of  the  cook, 
boasted  of  the  heroic  deeds  he  had  performed  in  the  course 
of  the  evening,  and  his  brisk  little  merry  wife  busied  herself 
about  the  ladies,  who  were  all  in  the  very  worst  of  humors, 
and  to  say  the  truth,  in  pitiable  plight. 

The  Born  Kippenreiter  sat  in  Hans's  high-backed  chair, 
like  a  queen  who  had  been  hurled  from  her  throne  by  a 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


60 1 


storm  of  revolution,  her  false  hair  plucked  off,  and  the  rouge 
all  washed  from  her  cheeks.  Upon  the  sofa  sat  the  two  Ele- 
onoras,  locked  in  each  other's  arms  and  weeping  freely  on 
each  other's  bosom,  without  any  one,  themselves  probably 
included,  having  the  least  idea  of  what  it  was  about ;  unless 
it  was  for  their  soaked  straw  hats  and  drenched  clothing, 
which  had  changed  the  virginal  whiteness  of  *the  morning, 
for  a  color  to  which  no  name  could  be  assigned.  The  stout 
Frau  von  Granow  was  standing  before  Fraulein  Duff,  who 
was  crouching  half  insensible  upon  Hans's  boot-box,  proving 
to  her  that  on  such  occasions  it  was  the  first  duty  of  every 
one  to  look  out  for  himself;  and  that  if  Fraulein  Hermine 
was  really  drowned  in  the  morass,  nobody  of  any  sense  would 
lay  the  slightest  blame  upon  her,  the  governess. 

'"  No,  Duffy,  not  the  slightest  blame  !  "  cried  Hermine, 
who,  coming  in  with  us  at  this  moment  through  the  door 
which  was  standing  open,  had  caught  the  last  word.  *'  Duffy ! 
dear,  darling  Duffy  !  " 

And  the  excited  girl  fell  on  the  neck  of  her  faithful  old 
governess,  and  embraced  and  kissed  her  with  a  flood  of  pas- 
sionate tears. 

If  a  sensitive  nature  like  Fraulein  Duff's  had  needed  any 
further  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  these  caresses  and 
these  tears,  she  found  it  now  in  the  appearance  of  a  tall  form 
that  stood  in  the  doorway  and  looked  at  the  group  with  flash- 
ing eyes.  She  reached  out  both  arms  to  him,  and  cried  out, 
oblivious  of  by-gone  troubles  : 

"  Richard,  did  I  not  tell  you,  *  Seek  faithfully  and  you 
will  find  ? '  " 

This  speech,  which  the  worthy  lady  had  delivered  in  the 
tone  of  a  herald  announcing  the  result  of  a  tournament,  fell 
like  a  bombshell  among  the  company.  The  two  Eleonoras 
unclasped  each  other  and  looked  in  each  other's  face,  and 
the  second  let  her  head  fall  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  first, 
murmuring  something  of  which  I  only  caught  the  words — 
"  the  traitor  ! " 

This  was  perhaps,  all  things  considered,  a  moving  picture, 
but  a  frightful  one  was  offered  us  by  the  Born.  The  fore- 
boding of  imminent  misfortune  had  been  lying  upon  her  low 
wrinkled  brow,  her  hollow  rouged  cheeks,  in  her  glassy 
snake-like  eyes  ;  she  had  seen  it  coming  on  all  day.  In  vain 
26 


6o2  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

had  she  tried  with  her  maternal  arms  to  protect  her  dear  son 
against  the  shafts  of  ill-temper  which  the  proud  angry  girl 
launched  against  him  ;  in  vain  had  Arthur  tried  to  quaff 
from  the  bowl  of  pine-apple  punch  fresh  courage  in  so  sore 
a  strait,  and  new  fortitude  to  sustain  him  under  his  trials — 
the  bolt  had  fjiUen,  and  the  wreck  was  here  before  her  eyes, 
before  the  eyes  of  the  Born  Baroness  Kippenreiter,  the 
mother  of  the  most  charming  of  sons,  the  aunt  of  this  un- 
grateful creature.  It  was  too  much  I  The  dethroned  queen 
sprang  to  her  feet,  trembling  in  every  limb,  hurled — she  was 
speechless  with  indignation — a  crushing  look  at  Hermine, 
who  threw  herself,  laughing,  into  my  arms,  and  tottered  to 
the  room  where  the  bowed-down  father  was  watching  by  the 
bed  of  his  hopeful  heir,  whose  wretched  soul  was  not  in  a 
condition  to  comprehend  what  he  and  his  house  had  irrevoc- 
ably lost. 

Away  sad  visions,  and  disturb  not  the  bright  memory  of 
that  happy  evening.  I  will  not  banish  you  altogether — nay, 
I  know  that  I  cannot  if  I  would  ;  but  crowd  not  upon  me 
thus  !  Strive  not  to  make  me  believe  that  it  is  for  you  that 
we  live.  You  must  be  it  is  true,  and  well  for  him  that  com- 
prehends it,  and  keeps  in  his  firm  breast  a  fearless  laugh  to 
mock  you  away  when  you  will  not  be  thrust  aside.  You 
must  be  ;  but  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  black  earth  that 
clings  to  its  tender  roots  that  we  take  up  the  rose  of  love, 
bear  it  home  in  our  bosom,  plant  it  in  a  calm  sunny  place, 
and  watch  and  tend  and  treasure  it  as  best  we  can.  Who 
knows  how  long  we  can  ! 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

WHO  knows  how  long  we  can  !      Perhaps  not  long ; 
perhaps  but  a  short,  far  too  short  a  time.     It  is  a 
melancholy  word,  but  unhappily  the  right  word  to 
open  the  record  of  this  part  of  my  life  which  I  begin  with  a 
hesitating  hand.      It  was  not  my  intention,  when  I   deter- 
mined to  write  this  narrative,  to  cast  any  further  gloom  upon 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  603 

the  spirits  of  my  readers,  who  have  in  all  likelihood  them- 
selves borne  their  own  share  of  life's  sorrows.  It  was  not 
my  aim  to  dampen  their  courage  in  life's  battles,  when  I  re- 
lated how  the  youth  had  erred  by  his  folly,  and  how  he  suf- 
fered the  penalty;  I  rather  hoped  to  infuse  into  them  the 
spirit  of  delight  in  active  life,  the  faculty  of  enduring  and 
forbearing ;  and  thus  we  may  together  live  over  in  memory 
the  hard  fortune  which  was  yet  to  be  the  lot  of  the  man. 
The  reader,  who  has  by  this  time  perhaps  grown  to  be  my 
friend,  may  follow  me  without  fear  on  my  path  of  life. 

And  first  into  the  room  of  the  commerzienrath,  which  I 
entered  the  following  morning  at  ten  o'clock  with  a  heart 
possibly  not  perfectly  at  ease,  but  not  at  all  fearful.  But  I 
would  not  have  advised  any  timid  person  to  cross  this  man's 
path  this  morning,  as  he  ran  up  and  down  his  room  like  a 
madman,  then  stopped  before  me  and  surveyed  me  with  in- 
furiated looks,  again  raged  about  the  room,  and  then  stopped 
and  cried  : 

"  So  !     You  want  to  marry  my  daughter,  do  you  ?  " 

"  It  is  a  wish  which  had  nothing  alarming  about  it  ten 
years  ago,  Herr  Commerzienrath.  Do  you  not  remember, 
on  the  deck  of  the  Penguin,  the  day  we  went  out  to  the 
ovster-beds  ? " 

"  Do  not  try  any  impertinence  with  me  !  I  ask  you  once 
more  ;  you — ^you  have  the  audacity  to  aim  at  being:  mv  son- 
in-law  ? " 

"  Excuse  me,  Herr  Commerzienrath ;  your  first  question 
was  whether  I  wanted  to  marry  your  daughter." 

"  That  is  the  same  thing." 

"  You  are  quite  right ;  and  therefore  you  would  perhaps 
do  better  Herr  Commerzienrath,  to  consider  me  now  your 
son-in-law— or  we  will  say,  son-in-law  that  is  to  be — ^and 
treat  me  accordingly." 

I  said  this  in  a  very  grave  firm  tone,  which  I  knew  from 
experience  seldom  failed  of  its  effect  upon  the  really  pusil- 
lanimous nature  of  the  man.  Instinctively  he  stepped  back 
a  couple  of  paces  out  of  my  reach,  seated  himself  in  his 
chair,  adopted  a  sneering  tone  instead  of  his  air  of  contempt- 
uous indignation,  and  said  in  his  driest  business  voice  : 

"  I  understand  thertf  Herr  George  Hartwig,  that  you  do  me 
the  honor  to  ask  the  hand  of  my  daughter  Hermine.     The 


6o4  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

first  points  then  to  be  considered,  are  the  nature  of  your 
pretensions,  the  position  you  occupy  in  the  world,  and,  in  a 
word,  your  personal  relations  generally.  You  are,  as  far  as 
I  know,  the  son  of  a  subaltern  official,  a  young  man  who  in 
his  youth  did  no  good,  and  for  a  horrible  crime  was  punished 

with  eight  years " 

"  Seven  years,  Herr  Commerzienrath " 

"  Counting  the   preliminary  detention,  and  disciplinary 

punishment,  eight  years  in  the  penitentiary " 

"  Imprisonment,  Herr  Commerzienrath " 

"  Who,  thanks  to  the  remissness  or  connivance  of  the  au- 
thorities  " 

My  papers  are  all  in  order,  Herr  Conunerzienrath- 


"  Learned  the  rudiments  of  blacksmithing  for  a  few  months 
in  my  factory,  and  now  with  the  respectable  capital  of " 

"  Fifty  thalers  cash,  and  a  hundred  and  sixty  thalers  out- 
standing debts  which  I  shall  never  collect " 

"  And,  I  may  add  with  future  prospects  corresponding  ; 
for  as  to  what  you  told  me  day  before  yesterday  of  his  high- 
ness's  proposition  to  you,  I  do  not  attach  any  weight  to  them 
at  all — ^you  then,  such  a  man  as  this,  with  such  a  past,  such 
a  position,  such  means,  and  such  prospects,  desire  to  marry 
the  daughter  of  Commerzienrath  Streber." 

"  To  have  your  permission  to  address  her,  Herr  Commer- 
zienrath." 

"  My  future  father-in-law  shot  from  under  his  bushy  brows 
a  searching  look  at  my  face,  which  probably  assured  him 
that  his  attempt  to  humiliate  me  availed  as  little  as  his  for- 
mer attempt  to  intimidate.  He  had  to  open  another  register. 
He  rested  his  bald  forehead  in  his  hand,  enveloped  himself 
in  a  thick  black  cloud  of  silence,  from  which  he  suddenly 
snapped  at  me  with  the  sharply  spoken  question : 

"  But  if  I  were  really  not  the  millionaire,  not  the  wealthy 
man  you  and  every  one  have  hitherto  considered  me — how 
then,  sir  ;  how  then  "i " 

The  commerzienrath  had  sprung  to  his  feet,  and  was 
standing  before  me,  as  I  had  taken  my  seat  fronting  him, 
with  his  hands  on  his  back,  bending  forward,  and  his  keen 
eyes  piercing  into  mine. 

"  The  circumstances  would  then  bi^  as  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, precisely  what  they  were  before  ;  especially  as  your 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  605 

vaunted  wealth  has  long  been  a  matter  of  serious  doubt  with 
me,  Herr  Commerzienrath." 

His  piercing  glances  plunged  into  watery  and  uncertain 
mist,  as  he  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair,  smote  the  arms 
of  it  with  his  hands,  broke  out  into  a  crowing  laugh  ending 
in  a  coughing-fit,  and  between  laughing  and  coughing  cried : 

"  That  is  too  good  ! — ^this  young  fellow — matter  of  serious 
doubt  with  him — long  been  so — ^it  is  too  good !  really  too 
good ! " 

The  coughing  fit  became  so  alarming  that  I  sprang  up  and 
began  to  pat  the  old  man's  back.  Suddenly  he  seized  my 
hands  and  said  in  a  lamentable  lachrymose  tone  : 

"  George,  my  dear  boy,  it  is  my  only,  child  !  You  do  not 
know  what  that  is  ;  the  comfort,  the  joy  of  a  feeble  old  man 
who  may  die  to-morrow  !  And  you  will  not  even  wait  those 
few  hours  ?  Oh,  it  is  cruel,  cruel !  Have  I  lived  to  see 
this !  " 

Cassandra  hit  the  mark  indeed  when  she  said  that  "  it  was 
hard  to  fathom  the  wiles  of  this  lab)rrinthine  old  man."  He 
had  kept  his  grand  stroke  for  the  last  If  I  could  not  be 
intimidated  or  humiliated,  I  might  perhaps  be  melted  ;  and 
I  was  really  touched,  and  said,  while  I  pressed  the  stumpy 
withered  hands  I  was  holding  in  my  own — "  I  will  not  rob 
you  of  your  child." 

"  You  really  will  not  ?  God  bless  you  !"  cried  the  com- 
merzienrath, springing  from  his  chair  as  if  touched  by  a  gal- 
vanic battery.  "  You  are  a  man  of  your  word  :  I  have 
always  known  you  such.     I  hold  you  to  your  word." 

"  When  you  have  heard  the  whole  of  it,  Herr  Commerz- 
ienrath. I  say,  I  will  not  rob  you  of  your  child,  because 
Hermine,  though  my  wife,  will  not  cease  to  love  and  to  honor 
her  father  as  she  now  does,  and  because  you  will  gain  a  good 
son  in  me,  whom  you  will  have  great  need  of  if  you  are  no 
longer  wealthy,  and  in  the  other  case  perhaps  still  more.  I 
think  that  I  have  already  proven  to  you  that  I  know  other 
things  besides  the  rudiments  of  blacksmithing,  and  perhaps 
enough  to  make  up  for  my  deficiency  of  fortune." 

The  "labyrinthine  old  man"  gave  me  a  look  in  which  I 
plainly  read  that  he  had  reached  the  end  of  his  windings. 
It  is  very  likely  that  at  no  time  had  he  a  serious  intention 
flatly  to  reject  my  proposal,  for  1  think  I  can  safely  say  that 


6o6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

as  he  had  always  lacked  courage  to  offer  any  determined  re- 
sistance to  his  proud  wilful  daughter  assuredly  he  would  not 
have  had  it  now,  when  she  confronted  him  with  the  trium- 
phant knowledge  that  she  was  beloved  with  a  love  equal  to 
her  own.  But  it  was  not  in  the  nature  of  the  man  to  grant 
anything,  be  it  what  it  might,  as  a  man  of  an  honorable 
spirit  would  do,  frankly  and  squarely,  without  chaffering  and 
higgling.  So  he  had  chaffered  and  higgled,  and  continued 
doing  so,  and  hiding  his  real  thoughts  and  wishes  from  me, 
until,  when  I  parted  from  him  after  an  hour's  conversation, 
I  was  more  in  the  dark  as  to  all  that  I  wished  to  know,  and 
as  to  the  state  of  his  affairs,  than  I  had  been  before.  But 
one  point  I  had  attained  and  made  clear  beyond  any  possi- 
bility of  a  doubt,  that  Hermine  was  to  be  my  wife  ;  and  as 
this,  as  every  one  will  admit,  was  the  main  point,  I  thought 
I  was  not  acting  very  inconsiderately  if  I  took  all  the  other 
contingencies  very  lightly  indeed. 

It  had  never  been  difficult  for  me  to  do  this,  even  in  the 
gloomiest  passages  of  my  life,  and  how  could  it  be  so  now 
when  I  was  so  happy  ?  How  could  the  envious,  hypocriti- 
cally-friendly glances  of  others  embitter  my  happiness  when 
I  saw  the  light  of  love  and  joy  in  Hermine's  wonderful  blue 
eyes  ?  And  yet  such  glances  were  not  wanting,  nor  the 
phrases  with  which  they  are  usually  accompanied. 

"  I  always  knew  it,  and  have  often  enough  said  to  your 
late  excellent  father,  my  dear  friend  and  colleague,  that  you 
would  win  distinction  some  day.  Yes,  yes,  dear  George — . 
I  may  still  call  you  by  that  old  familiar  name,  may  I  not  ? 
— ^my  prophecy  has  come  to  pass,  though  otherwise  than  I 
had  expected.  Well,  well,  so  it  had  to  be ;  and  probably, 
all  things  considered,  it  is  well  that  it  is  as  it  is.  You  have 
always  been  a  good  man  whose  hand  was  ever  open  to  the 
distressed.  You  will  not  withdraw  this  generous  hand  from 
an  old  man  who  looks  to  you  as  his  last  hope  ? "  And  the 
steuerrath  applied  the  finger  on  which  glittered  the  immense 
signet  to  the  inner  corner  of  his  left  eye,  and  passed  his 
cambric  handkerchief  over  his  pale  aristocratic  face. 

"  I  have  always  held  you  up  as  a  pattern  to  my  Arthur," 
said  the  Born :  "  Do  you  not  remember  the  times  when  you 
both  went  to  school  together  and  the  teachers  were  always 
full  of  your  praises  ?    Ah !  I  can  see  you  now,  two  wild  high- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  607 

spirited  boys,  always  clinging  faithfully  together,  and  each 
ready  to  go  through  anything  for  the  other.  '  That  it  might 
always  be  so  ! '  I  often  sighed  from  the  depths  of  a  mother's 
heart,  for  I  felt  how  greatly  my  good  easy-natured  Arthur 
would  need  his  strong  thoughtful  friend.  My  presentiment 
has  become  a  reality.  May  heaven  have  h^ard  my  prayer  ; 
may  you,  dear  George,  never  forget  what  he  has  once  been 
to  you  ;  may  you  never  forget  the  companion  of  your  happy 
youth !  " 

And  the  Born  pressed  convulsively  both  my  hands,  and 
raised  her  face  as  near  as  possible  to  mine,  as  if  she  wished 
to  afford  me  an  opportunity  once  for  all  to  gain  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  her  whole  apparatus  of  false  hair,  teeth,  colors, 
expression  and  looks. 

"  I  heard  yesterday  what  a  lucky  fellow  you  are,  as  you 
have  always  been,"  said  Arthur.  "  Lucky  in  everything,  but 
luckiest  of  all  with  women.  You  could  always  turn  them 
round  your  finger,  you  scamp.  Don't  you  remember  the 
dancing-lessons,  and  Annie  Lachmund,  Elise  Kohl,  and 
Emilie  ?  Ha !  ha  !  ha !  Emilie  !  Don't  you  remember  the 
quarrel  we  had  about  her  on  the  Penguin  ?  Poor  girl ! 
There  she  goes,  arm  in  arm  with  Elise,  bewailing  the  ship- 
wreck of  her  hopes.  I  shall  have  to  take  up  with  the  poor 
thing  myself :  an  ex-lieutenant,  ex-secretary  of  legation,  who 
is  also  ex  in  pretty  much  everything  else,  must  naturally  be 
content  with  anything." 

And  Arthur  laughed  bitterly,  smote  his  brow  with  his  fist, 
and  added  that  though  he  might  not  be  worth  much,  he 
supposed  he  was  worth  as  much  powder  as  would  end  his 
miseries. 

Emilie  Heckepfennig  had  been  for  departing  the  next 
morning  and  fleeing  the  sight  of  the  traitor,  but  remained 
notwithstanding,  either  because  the  scene  of  her  ill-fortune 
had  more  attractions  for  her  than  she  was  disposed  to  admit, 
or  else  because  the  justizrath,.  who  had  not  yet  returned 
from  Uselin,  had  written  to  her  that  she  must  on  no  account 
leave  until  he  returned.  So  in  the  meantime  the  lorn  maiden 
went  about  as  if  she  was  to  serve  the  most  sentimental  of 
artists  as  a  model  for  a  resignation,  leaning  perpetually  upon 
the  arm  of  her  friend,  so  that  one  could  not  enough  admire 
the  physical  strength  of  the  latter  lady,  who,  as  well  known, 


6o8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

•  had  been  pining  into  the  grave  for  twenty  years.  At  times 
she  looked  at  me  with  the  eyes  of  a  dying  gazelle,  and  at 
others  cast  me  a  look  in  which  was  plainly  written  "  You 
will  repent  it  some  day." 

That  I  did  not  misinterpret  the  meaning  of  this  glance,  I 
was  convinced  by  a  conversation  to  which  the  justizrath  in 
a  mysteriously  confidential  way  invited  me  a  few  days  aftei 
his  return.  The  worthy  man  shook  my  hand  again  and 
again,  assured  me  that  m}'  great  coup,  as  he  phrased  it,  would 
make  no  alteration  in  his  friendship,  then  rubbed  up  the 
crest  of  hair  which  stood  erect  upon  his  head  like  a  cock's- 
comb,  assumed  an  important  air — I  knew  this  air  well  from 
the  time  of  my  old  examination — and  said  : 

"  Young  man  !  Excuse  me — I  mean,  my  dear  young 
friend  !  Young  as  you  are,  life  has  already  taught  you  that 
everything  has  two  sides  ;  and  that  all  is  by  no  means  gold 
that  glitters.  If  you  will  allow  an  old  and  true  friend  of 
your  family  to  give  you  a  counsel  which  it  is  my  most  sin- 
cere belief  you  will  do  well  to  follow,  and  which  in  any  event 
is  honestly  meant,  accept  the  proposal  that  his  highness  has 
made  you,  under  any  condition  !  under  any  condition  !  " 

He  wished  to  leave  me  after  saying  this,  but  I  held  him 
back  and  said :  "  You  must  feel,  Herr  Justizrath,  that  I  am 
compelled  to  ask  you  for  a  more  definite  explanation  of 
advice  which  strikes  me  as  rather  singular,  coming  from  you." 

"  Ask  me  nothing  more,"  said  the  justizrath,  with  a  dep- 
recatory gesture. 

"  You  have  asked  me  in  your  time  so  many  things,  and  so 
much  more  than  was  agreeable  to  me,  that  a  little  retaliation 
may  be  allowed  me,  I  think,"  I  answered  smiling. 

"  Would  you  ask  an  old  lawyer  to  reveal  business  secrets 
intrusted  to  him  professionally  ?"  said  the  justizrath,  and  the 
cock's-comb  trembled  with  the  conflict  of  his  feelings. 

I  was  resolved  not  to  be  put  off  in  this  way,  and  I  said : 

"  I  will  meet  you  half-way,  Herr  Justizrath.  I  have  rea- 
sons for  believing  that  the  commerzienrath's  affairs  are  far 
from  being  so  prosperous  as  is  commonly  believed ;  and  if 
you  are  so  discreet  as  to  withhold  the  grounds  of  advice 
which  can  only  have  one  interpretation,  the  prince  did  not 
exercise  the  same  reticence  when  he  made  me  the  offer  you 
allude  to." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  609 

The  justizrath  looked  as  if  he  was  himself  a  sacrifice  to 
his  own  inquisitorial  genius,  and  saw  no  escape  but  in  mak- 
ing a  full  and  free  confession. 

"I  will  tell  you  but  a  single  fact,"  he  said.  "  Last  Friday 
the  commerzienrath  went  with  me  into  the  city  to  raise 
money  on  his  paper  to  the  extent  of  about  a  hundred 
thousand  thalers,  and  I  ran  with  these  from  post  to  pillar, 
until  at  last  Moses  in  the  Water  street  took  them  at  a  very 
short  date  for  a  very  high  discount  Sapimti  sat,  as  we 
Latinists  say  1" 

And  the  justizrath  brushed  his  comb  with  both  hands  to 
its  most  imposing  height,  and  moved  toward  the  door,  but 
stopped  when  he  had  reached  it,  came  back  a  few  steps,  and 
said  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  can  not  tear  himself  from  the 
grave  where  all  his  hopes  lie  buried : 

"  Do  not  think  the  worse  of  me  that  I  have  allowed  myself 
to  be  seduced  into  a  breach  of  confidence  which  is  equally 
foreign  to  my  position,  my  ^e,  and  I  may  add,  my  character. 
I  have  only  told  you  what  you  will  probably  soon  learn  from 
other  sources,  and  in  any  event  must  know  before  long ;  and 
George" — here  the  justizrath  sighed,  and  then  painfully 
smiled — "  George,  what  you  may  not  forgive  to  the  hard- 
pressed  man  of  business,  you  will  perhaps  forgive  the  father. 
I  also  have  but  one  daughter,  and  am,  heaven  be  thanked,  a 
wealthy  man." 

The  wealthy  man  who  also  had  an  only  daughter,  went  out 
of  the  door  at  the  moment  that  William  entered  it  with  a  let- 
ter which  the  postman  had  just  brought,  the  seal  of  which  I 
broke  with  trembling  hands. 

"  My  dear  George,  my  brother :  Then  it  has  at  last  come 
to  pass  what  I  have  so  long  desired  and  hoped  ;  and,  since 
your  happiness  would  hardly  be  perfect  without  it,  let  me  add 
my  wreath  to  the  rest  I  have  entwined  in  it  all  the  kind 
and  loving  wishes  that  one  human  soul  can  cherish  for  an- 
other, all  the  blessings  that  spring  firom  the  depths  of  my 
heart  for  you,  for  you,  my  friend,  my  brother,  our  brother,  for 
the  young  ones  too  now  come  to  their  eldest  and  bow  before 
him,  now  that  he  is  crowned  as  he  deserves.  Wear  it  proudly, 
your  beauteous  crown,  and  may  never  a  hand  touch  it  less 
holy  than  that  of  her  who  now  lays  her  hand  on  my  shoul- 
ders and  bends  her  face  over  the  paper  that  her  eyes  can  no 
26* 


6io  .         Hammer  and  Anvil. 

longer  see,  and  says  softly  to  me — '  He  still  remains  to  us 
what  he  always  was.'  " 

This  letter  also  bears  traces  of  tears,  but  they  were  my 
eyes  that  wept  them,  and  they  were  tears  of  joy.  And  when 
I  raised  my  grateful  looks  towards  heaven,  the  cloud  had  van- 
ished, the  one  cloud  that  had  darkened  my  sky,  and  all  was 
as  bright  as  the  vernal  heavens  that  stretched  in  splendor 
over  land  and  sea. 

Happy,  radiant  days  were  these,  which  now  seem  to  me  as 
if  there  had  been  no  night  at  all  and  no  darkness,  but  ever 
day  and  light  and  bliss.  There  were  not  too  many  of  these 
days,  and  it  was  perhaps  well  that  it  was  so.  Which  of  us 
mortals,  however  great  his  powers,  can  long  feast  with  im- 
punity at  the  table  of  the  gods  ? 

But  many  or  few,  ye  shall  be  held  sacred  in  memory,  ye 
happy  hours,  and  sacred  shall  be  held  whatever  was  associ- 
ated with  you  and  enhanced  your  sweetness.  The  bright 
sun,  the  rustling  woods  through  which  I  walked  at  the  side 
of  the  beloved  one,  the  twilight  fields  through  which  we 
strolled,  the  sky  larks  that  singing  soared  into  the  blue  ether 
until  they  were  lost  to  sight,  and  the  sweet  nightingales  that 
tried  to  persuade  me  that  they  were  happier  than  we. 

Yes,  all  shall  be  sacred  and  precious  in  memory,  for  the 
memory  is  all  that  is  left  to  me  of  those  happy  days. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

UPON  these  happy  days,  whose  number  I  cannot  even 
give — for    who   counts   days  like    these  ?-^followed 
others  that  were  as  full  of  unrest  and  intervals  of 
gloom,  as  those  were  of  calm  and  sunlight. 

We  were  all  in  Berlin :  the  commerzienrath,  my  betrothed, 
Fraulein  Duff,  and  myself ;  the  commerzienrath  staying  at  a 
hotel  with  the  ladies,  I  in  my  old  den  once  more'  in  the  ruin- 
ous court,  where  my  presence  was  now  more  necessary  than 
ever.  To  be  sure,  it  was  not  so  in  the  eyes  of  Hermine, 
who  laughingly  maintained  that  as  the  rubbish  had  lain  there 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  6ii 

so  long  already,  it  might  well  lie  awhile  longer ;  but  I  thought 
differently.  There  was  really  no  time  to  be  lost.  I  had 
partly  persuaded  and  partly  forced  the  commerzienrath,  by 
long  and  urgent  conversations,  to  agree  to  undertake  my 
favorite  scheme.  The  plan  of  the  building  had  been  long 
complete  in  my  head,  and  now,  with  the  help  of  a  skilful  arch- 
itect, was  complete  upon  paper.  There  was  both  less  and 
more  to  do  than  I  had  thought ;  but  we  had  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  we  could  get  through  with  the  main  part  of 
the  work  by  autumn,  and  be  able  to  work  in  the  new  build- 
ings in  the  winter,  always  supposing  that  the  necessary  funds 
did  not  fail  us.  In  reference  to  this  last  critical  point,  I  was 
only  half  informed  ;  by  no  fault  of  my  own,  however,  as  de- 
spite all  my  efforts  I  had  not  been  able  to  bring  the  commer- 
zienrath to  a  clear  statement  of  his  affairs.  Even  now  I 
cannot  think,  without  a  feeling  of  pain  and  shame,  of  the  in- 
terminable debates  I  had  with  him  upon  this  point,  from 
which  I  sometimes  left  him  full  of  confidence  and  hope,  and 
at  other  times  weighed  down  with  doubts  and  cares.  Could 
he  command  the  necessary  funds  1  Of  course  he  could,  and 
it  was  ridiculous  to  doubt  it  for  a  moment.  Had  he  really 
maturely  reflected  upon  a  determination  which  involved  so 
much  ?  Of  course  he  had.  Did  I  take  him  to  be  in  his  do- 
tage, or  suppose  that  he  did  not  understand  his  own  wishes  t 
That  was  a  ticklish  question  to  which,  for  very  intelligible 
reasons,  I  did  not  care  to  answer  "  yes  "  to  his  face,  and  yet 
to  which,  in  my  own  breast,  I  could  scarcely  find  another 
answer.  It  was  plain  that  he  was  no  longer  the  man  he  had 
been,  the  man  he  must  have  been  to  hold  the  threads  of  a 
hundred  heavy  and  important  undertakings  at  once,  and  draw 
his  profit  and  advantage  from  all.  In  some  moments  he 
seemed  to  have  a  consciousness  of  the  change  that  had  come 
over  him,  but  he  then  did  not  complain  of  himself  but  of  the 
times  which  had  changed,  so  that  his  old  theories  were  no 
longer  applicable.  His  old  theories,  and  he  might  have 
added  his  old  practices  and  his  old  tricks.  All  his  life  long 
the  man  had  been  a  partisan  of  fortune,  a  buccaneer  upon 
the  high  seas  of  trafiSc  and  life,  a  free-lance  upon  the  long 
caravan  route  to  El  Dorado,  a  gamester  at  the  green-table 
of  chance,  who  had  often  staked  copper  pence  for  gold 
pieces,  and,  favored  by  fortune  and  time,  gathered  in  gold 


6i2  Hammer  and  Anvil.. 

pieces  for  copper  pence.  And  now  the  time,  as  he  clearly 
felt,  had  changed,  and  his  lucl^  had  left  him.  He  did  not 
deny  that  he  had  suffered  great  losses,  but  took  care  never 
to  state  how  great  these  losses  really  were.  He  had  never 
insured  either  his  ships  or  their  cargoes,  and,  as  he  said,  had 
always  found  his  advantage  in  doing  so.  But  lately  two  had 
gone  down  with  all  on  board,  and  though  he  attached  no 
great  importance  to  this  latter  feature  of  the  calamity,  he 
felt  severely  the  loss  of  the  cargoes,  which  were  unusually 
valuable.  Then  again  a  sudden  fall  in  the  price  of  breadstuffs 
had  reduced  by  one-half  the  value  of  his  immense  stocks  in 
his  warehouses  at  Uselin,  and  then  the  failure  of  his  hope 
of  selling  Zehrendorf,  as  the  young  prince,  whose  father  still 
lay  very  ill  at  Prora,  seemed  to  have  given  up  all  thoughts  of  it, 
and  for  which  Herr  von  Granow,  who  had  before  been  all  agog 
to  purchase,  now  declined  to  make  any  offer — as  I  suspected, 
at  the  instigation  of  the  justizrath,  who  seemed  to  know 
more  of  his  client's  affairs,  and  to  be  less  scrupulous  in  using 
his  knowledge,  than  was  by  any  means  favorable  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  latter.  Other  things  were  also  added.  The 
long  and  tortuous  channel  leading  between  the  island  and 
the  firm  land  to  Uselin,  had,  in  consequence  of  the  disgrace- 
ful neglect  of  the  authorities,  silted  up  to  such  a  degree  that 
it  was  now  only  passable  for  vessels  of  very  light  draught, 
and  the  danger  of  its  complete  closure  seemed  scarcely 
avoidable.  Thus  the  traffic  of  the  town,  the  greater  part  of 
which  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  commerzienrath,  was  as 
good  as  destroyed  ;  the  large  docks  which  he  had  repaired 
at  his  own  private  expense  in  part,  his  immense  warehouses 
and  other  buildings,  had  partly  become  entirely  worthless, 
and  the  remainder  greatly  dejjreciated  in  value..  For  sev- 
eral years  trade  had  turned  to  the  much  more  favorably  situ- 
ated town  of  St.  ,  and  now,  since  this  town  had  been 

connected  with  the  capital  and  the  interior  by  the  railroad, 
Uselin  could  no  longer  contend  with  its  more  fortunate  rival. 
The  commerzienrath  quite  lost  his  self-control  every  time  he 
came  upon  this  topic  ;  he  declared  railroads  to  be  an  inven- 
tion of  the  devil,  and  asseverated  that  it  was  a  sin  and  a 
shame  to  ask  him  to  assist  with  his  own  funds  the  diabolical 
system  that  was  ruining  him.  When  I  f)ointed  out  to  him 
that  the  bane  might  be  made  the  antidote,  that  he  must  turn 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  613 

the  altered  position  of  affairs  to  his  own  advantage,  and  that 
he  was  in  a  situation  to  do  this  on  the  largest  scale  if  we  only 
carried  resolutely  out  my  plan  for  extending  our  works,  he 
caught  at  this  idea,  which  had  seemed  so  hateful  a  moment 
before,  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm,  but  only  to  go  over  the 
same  ground  the  next  day. 

These  were  trying  weeks,  and  the  dark  shadow  which  they 
threw  still  darkens  in  my  memory  the  sunshine  which, 
heaven  be  thanked,  even  at  this  time  brightened  so  many 
of  my  hours. 

With  what  unalloyed  pleasure  do  I  recall  my  return  to  the 
works,  which  really  resembled  a  triumphal  procession  !  Now 
I  reaped  the  reward  of  having  been  always,  whatever  the 
changes  of  my  fortune,  on  brotherly  terms  with  my  comrades 
of  the  hammer  and  file,  that  I  had  omitted  no  opportunity 
of  promoting  their  welfare  and  being  serviceable  to  them 
with  head  and  hand.  No  distinction  nor  success  in  later 
days — and  my  life  has  not  been  passed  without  a  share  of 
both — has  ever  made  me  so  proud  as  the  certain  knowledge 
that  among  all  these  men  with  the  knotted  callous  hands 
and  the  grave  faces  furrowed  with  toil  and  too  often  with 
care,  there  was  not  a  single  one  who  grudged  me  my  good 
fortune,  and  that  by  far  the  most  rejoiced  in  it  with  all  their 
hearts.  I  still  see  them  before  me — and  often  has  the  mem- 
ory brightened  ray  hours  of  dejection — their  friendly  eyes 
lighted  with  sincere  pleasure,  as  they  looked  at  the  "  Malay  " 
going,  escorted  by  the  manager,  through  the  shops,  and  pre- 
senting himself  to  them  privately  in  friendly  confidence  as 
their  new  chief.  I  still  hear  the  cheers  they  gave  when  a 
day  or  two  later  I  had  them  officially  assembled  and  made 
them  a  speech,  in  which  I  said  in  few  words  what  filled 
my  heart  to  overflowing.  And  when  the  triple  cheer  had 
died  away,  with  what  importance  the  head-foreman  cleared 
his  throat  as  he  commenced  a  reply,  in  which  the  worthy 
man's  favorite  theme,  "Go  ahead  !"  was  treated  with  the 
boldest  license  of  speech,  and  the  peroration  of  which  was 
lost  without  a  trace  in  the  primitive  forest  of  his  whiskers 
and  in  the  emotion  he  could  not  master.  And  was  it  not 
the  good  Klaus  whose  voice  intoned  another  outburst  of 
cheering,  compared  with  which  the  first  both  in  length  and 
vehemence,  was  mere  child's  play  ?     I  have  to  laugh  even 


6i4 


Hamrner  and  Anvil. 


now  when  I  think  of  the  confusion  in  which  I  was  plunged 
when  an  hour  later  the  Technical  Bureau,  in  white  cravats 
and  gloves,  waited  upon  me  in  a  body,  and  its  speaker,  Herr 
Windfang,  compared  me  to  the  Khalif  of  Bagdad,  who  for  a 
long  time  had  lived  unknown  among  his  faithful  subjects, 
and  at  last  took  the  lofty  station  which  belonged  to  him  of 
right. 

Yes,  these  are  bright  and  happy  memories,  all  the  brighter 
and  happier  that  the  following  years,  so  far  from  belying  the 
promises  made  then  by  sanguine  hope,  fulfilled  them  all  in 
abundant  measure.  At  this  very  day,  when  I  look  at  the 
assembled  force  of  workmen  in  the  establishment,  I  see  for 
the  most  part  the  dear  well-known  faces  of  that  time,  not 
grown  any  younger,  it  may  be,  by  the  lapse  of  years,  but 
none  the  less  dear  to  me.  And  those  whom  I  no  longer  see 
— all  but  very  few — hav^e  been  drawn  off  by  that  great  rival 
whom  we  name  Death. 

"  But  what  sort  of  a  bridegroom  is  a  man  who  has  nothing 
but  blast  furnaces,  pigs  of  iron,  and  frightful  things  of  that 
sort  in  his  head  ?  "  said  Hermine,  "  and  who  knits  his  fore- 
head into  such  ugly  wrinkles  !  Let  me  smooth  them  out " — 
and  she  passed  her  hand  over  my  brow  and  eyes — "  If  I  had 
known  all  this,  I  would  never  have  fallen  in  love  with  you, 
you  sooty  monster !  "  And  she  threw  herself  in  my  arms 
and  whispered  in  my  ear :  "  Tell  me  at  once  that  you  love 
your  old  ugly  workmen  more  than  you  do  me,  so  that  I  may 
know  what  I  have  to  do." 

"  You  have  to  go  with  me  through  the  works  to-day,  and 
to  be  nice  and  kind  to  the  ugly  men,  and  to  me  more  than 
all." 

"  And  why  to  you  ? " 

"  That  they  may  see  how  happy  I  am." 

"  What  is  that  to  them  ?  "  i 

"  It  is  a  great  deal  to  them."  ' 

"But  what.?" 

"It  is  the  certainty  that  when  they  come  to  me  to  repre- 
sent their  distresses,  they  will  find  a  man  who  is  ready  to 
help  if  he  can." 

"  I  never  knew  anybody  with  such  odd  notions.  When 
shall  we  go  ?  " 

"At  once." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  615 

So  we  went  through  every  part  of  the  whole  establishment, 
Hermine  opening  great  eyes  of  wonder  and  sometimes  cling- 
ing tight  to  my  arm,  but  she  was  very  kind  and  friendly  to  the 
men,  only  a  little  cool  and  distant  with  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Technical  Bureau — so  cool  and  distant  that  Herr  Windfang's 
beautiful  speech,  which  he  had  known  by  heart  for  a  week, 
stuck  fast  in  his  throat. 

"  Why  were  you  so  ungracious  to  the  poor  fellows  ?"  I 
asked. 

"  Poor  fellows  ?"  said  Hermine,  pettishly  pouting.  "  They 
did  not  look  that  way  to  me ;  and  Herr  Windfang,  or  what- 
ever his  name  is,  struck  me  as  a  complete  coxcomb.  I  did 
not  promise  to  be  gracious  to  men  of  his  stamp." 

"  But  they  belong  to  us." 

"  Nobody  belongs  to  us.  We  belong  to  one  another,  you 
to  me  and  I  to  you  :  remember  that  once  for  all,  if  you 
please !" 

I  laughed,  but  afterwards  had  some  serious  reflections  on 
a  peculiarity  of  character  in  my  betrothed,  which  struck  me 
not  for  the  first  time  this  morning.  She  interpreted  the  ex- 
pression that  we  belonged  to  each  other,  quite  literally,  and 
when  she  appeared  to  make  an  exception  to  it,  it  was  only  in 
appearance,  and  always  in  favor  of  persons  who  were  really 
in  need  of  help^  and  to  whom  she  could  condescend  as  a 
princess  to  her  subjects.  Towards  such  she  could  behave 
with  proud,  but  perfectly  irresistible  kindness. 

I  shall  never  forget  how,  upon  the  occasion  of  a  little  tour 
that  we  made  through  the  island  in  these  first  happy  days, 
and  in  which  we  visited  the  lonely  village  on  the  coast  which 
had  played  so  memorable  a  part  in  my  flight — how  she  sat 
by  the  old  sailor's  widow,  patted  her  brown  wrinkled  hands, 
wiped  the  tears  from  her  brown  wrinkled  face,  and  consoled 
her  with  the  assurance  that  her  son  would  yet  come  back  in 
spite  of  all ;  told  her  stories,  which  she  invented  at  the  mo- 
ment, of  sea-faring  men  who  had  returned  laden  with  riches 
after  being  supposed  lost  for  ten  or  twenty  years ;  and  how 
in  the  meantime  she  must  look  upon  us  two  as  her  children, 
and  that  we  would  take  care  of  her  and  make  her  comforta- 
ble in  her  old  age.  So  too  when  we  went  to  Uselin  she  was 
friendly  beyond  all  my  expectation  to  my  sister,  who  had 
recently  increased  her  family  for  the  seventh  time.     She 


6t6  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

gave  presents  to  all  the  children,  who  were  very  far  from 
being  either  pretty  or  amiable,  offered  to  be  godmother  to 
the  new-comer,  and  contrary  to  her  custom  did  not  ridicule 
even  the  blundering  attempts  at  politeness  and  clumsy  obse- 
quiousness of  my  brother-in-law. 

"  Poor  people,"  she  said  :  "  Seven  children  and  such  a 
little  house  and  such  a  little  father.  How  did  you  ever 
manage  to  grow  so  big  in  that  house,  George,  without  knock- 
ing a  hole  in  the  roof  with  your  hard  head  ?  And  your  father 
was  quite  as  tall  as  you,  and  had  every  bit  as  hard  a  head. 
I  don't  wonder  that  you  two  could  not  get  along  together  in 
such  a  nutshell  of  a  house.  But  we  must  take  care  of  them, 
George  ;  don't  forget  that." 

And  then  again  my  good  Klaus  and  his  Christel  with  her 
four  children — a  fifth  was  expected  soon — had  occasion  to 
rejoice  in  her  kindness,  though  in  a  different  fashion.  She 
had  not  shrunk  from  climbing  the  three  interminable  flights 
of  stairs,  and  getting  Christel  to  initiate  her  into  the  more 
recondite  mysteries  of  the  washing  and  ironing  arts,  nor  from 
listening  to  Klaus's  long  enumeration  of  his  wife's  virtues. 
^  Even  if  I  were  not  compelled  to  like  Klaus  for  his  faithful- 
ness to  you,  he  would  have  captivated  me  by  the  way  he 
worships  his  pretty  plump  wife.  There,  George ;  here's  a 
pattern  for  you  to  follow.  For  him  the  world  began  with 
the  moment  when  the  waves  cast  up  his  Christel,  who  must 
have  been  then  just  as  fat  and  white  and  nice  as  she  is  now, 
on  the  beach ;  and  if  she  should  be  so  unfeeling  as  to  die 
before  him,  he  would  lie  down  and  die  too.  And  so  will  I 
do,  if  you  should  die — "  she  added,  and  looked  at  me  with 
compressed  lips,  and  angrily  contracted  brows. 

Towards  the  poor,  towards  all  who  were  dependent  or 
seemed  so,  her  proud  nature  could  be  kind  and  condescend- 
ing ;  but  all  who  wished  to  win  her  favor  must  make  no  pre- 
tensions to  my  affections,  claim  no  place  in  my  heart  which 
she  desired  to  dwell  in  and  occupy  alone.  The  lightest  ap- 
prehension that  any  one  besides  herself  might  take  posses- 
sion of  what  was  hers  alone,  filled  her  with  an  alarm  which 
the  vivacity  of  her  nature  could  seldom  long  conceal,  and 
which  found  vent  sometimes  in  gloomy  anger,  sometimes  in 
hot  passionate  tears.  But  how  could  I,  beloved  by  this 
proud  beautiful  creature,  complain  of  what  after  all  was  but 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  617 

an  excess  of  that  in  which  others  daily  exhibited  so  lamenta- 
ble a  deficiency  ?  No  ;  no  word  of  complaint  shall  my  pen 
enter  in  these  records  of  my  life,  as  none  ever  passed  your 
lips,  you  good  and  noble  hearts  that  loved  me  well,  but 
withdrew  to  one  side  lest  an  unguarded  look  might  seem  to 
accuse  her  or  myself 

Hermine  felt  this  and  understood  it ;  and  said  sometimes, 
when  Paula  or  Doctor  Snellius  visited  us  so  very  seldom, 
and  her  cheeks  flushed  while  she  said  it : 

"  I  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  come  thus  between  you  and* 
your  friends  ;  it  is  ungenerous,  it  is  mean,  I  know  ;  I  know 
it,  George,  but  I  cannot  help  it ;  I  cannot  spare  a  crumb  that 
falls  from  the  table  of  our  love.  If  I  could  only  live  with  you 
on  some  lonely  island,  in  the  farthest  seas,  and  some  day  an 
earthquake  came  and  the  island  sank  in  the  waters,  and  no  one 
even  knew  of  the  spot  where  we  had  been  so  happy !  But  here 
among  all  these  people  for  whom  you  have  to  care,  who  take 
an  interest  in  you  or  you  in  them,  for  whom  you  must  work, 
and,  worse  still,  those  who  have  no-  claim  of  any  sort  upon 
you,  and  take  a  cruel  pleasure  in  coming  about  us,  and  ques- 
tioning us,  and  watching  us,  as  if  we  were  on  the  world  for 
no  other  purpose.  I  already  think  with  horror  of  Uselin,  and 
the  curious  looks  of  all  the  population,  no  one  of  whom  can 
spare  himself  the  treat  of  seeing  the  great  clever  George 
marry  the  little  stupid  Hermine.  And  then  the  celestial 
weeping  of  the  two  Eleonoras,  to  one  of  whom  you  are  a 
traitor,  you  monster  !  or  Duffy's  tears  of  joy  when  she  hears 
from  the  good  pastor's  mouth  what  she  has  known  for  eight 
or  nine  years  !  It  is  frightful !  Couldn't  we  slip  into  some 
church  about  twilight  and  be  married  by  a  pastor,  who  would 
see  us  both  for  the  first,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  for 
the  last  time,  and  get  for  witnesses  two  or  three  old  men  or 
women  who  might  happen  to  be  about,  who  would  not  know 
us  the  next  day,  if  they  should  meet  us  on  the  street  ?  " 

I  cannot  say  that  this  wish  of  Hermine's  was  very  strongly 
opposed  to  my  own  feelings — rather  the  contrary.  But  my 
father-in-law  declared  that  he  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  as 
the  first  citizen  of  Uselin,  that  his  daughter's  marriage 
should  take  place  in  that  town.  He  held  to  this  with  an 
obstinacy  which  he  was  not  wont  to  display  to  his  daughter ; 
and  so  we  had  to  yield  the  point. 


6i8  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

Nor  can  I  say  that  the  fateful  day  proved  by  any  means 
so  terrible  as  we  had  fancied  it.  The  discourse  of  the  good 
pastor,  who  was  the  same  that  had  officiated  at  my  confirma- 
tion, and  must  even  then  have  been  an  aged  man,  was  very 
long  and  very  rambling,  it  is  true  ;  the  St.  Nicholas  church 
looked  as  bald  and  bare  as  ever,  and  the  hundreds  of  eyes 
that  were  all  fixed  immovably  upon  us,  all  with  the  identical 
look  as  if  we  were  presently  to  be  executed  before  them,  made 
the  bleak  space  by  no  means  more  comfortable  ;  the  great 
dinner  at  the  commerzienrath's  villa  was  pompous  and  cere- 
monious to  the  last  degree,  and  the  healths  and  speeches  a 
little  flat  and  stupid — all  these  facts  I  admit ;  but  then  on 
the  other  hand  it  was  the  church  among  the  timber-work  of 
which  I  had  performed  so  many  neck-breaking  gymnastic 
feats,  and  from  whose  belfr)'  I  had  so  often  gazed  longingly 
over  land  and  sea  into  the  blue  distance  ;  and  among  the 
indifferently-curious  faces  there  was  here  and  there  one  that 
I  should  have  been  sorry  to  miss  on  this  day ;  and  then  the 
day  itself,  one  of  the  brightest  days  of  summer,  was  so  fair, 
the  sky  so  blue,  with  great  white  motionless  clouds,  the  air 
so  crystal-clear,  that  the  old  town  looked  really  young  in  the 
splendid  sunlight,  and  the  threadbare  uniforms  of  Luz  and 
Bolljahn,  those  energetic  guardians  of  the  peace,  who  had 
held  the  youth  of  the  streets  assembled  in  front  of  the  church 
in  check  in  a  most  masterly  manner,  seemed  absolutely  new ; 
and  in  the  harbor,  where  all  the  ships  had  run  up  their 
colors,  the  bright  pennons  fluttered  so  gaily  in  the  fresh  east 
wind  ;  and  upon  the  wide  expanse  of  waters  the  wavelets 
were  dancing  so  merrily,  beyond  the  strait  the  white  chalk- 
cliffs  of  the  island  glittered  so  brightly,  and  upon  the  island 
was  Zehrendorf,  for  which  we  started  as  the  sinking  sun 
began  to  tinge  with  red  the  edges  of  the  white  clouds. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

PERHAPS   that  isolated   life  which   is   the  ideal  of  a 
young  married  pair,  when  from  any  causes  its  realisa- 
tion by  an  abode  upon  a  desert  island  is  found  to  be 
impracticable,  can  nowhere  be  better  realised  than  in  a  very 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  619 

large,  populous  city.  It  all  depends  upon  one's  possessing 
the  secret  of  creating  an  isle  here,  past  whose  shores  the 
restless  tides  of  social  life  roll  away.  The  thorough  mastery 
of  this  art  is  greatly  facilitated  to  the  adept,  when  the  great 
world,  as  often  happens,  has  no  special  motive  to  trouble 
itself  about  him  ;  the  heart  of  the  mystery  lies  in  the  other 
and  harder  condition,  that  he  shall  not  trouble  himself  about 

the  world. 

The  first  of  these  conditions  had  already  been  very  satis- 
factorily fulfilled  in  my  case.  The  world  had  interested  itself 
amazingly  little  about  the  young  machinist  while  he  pursued 
his  laborious  but  valuable  studies  in  the  ruinous  house  stand- 
ing in  the  ruinous  court.  He  resembled  at  all  points  Les- 
sing's  wind-mill  which  went  to  nobody  and  nobody  came  to 
it,  and  which  simply  ground  the  corn  that  was  thrown  into 
the  hopper.  But  now  the  case  was  very  different ;  that  court 
was  no  longer  a  wilderness  of  rubbish.  The  ruins  had  been 
cleared  away,  or  built  up  into  stately  buildings;  the  wall 
which  had  separated  the  two  lots  was  pulled  down  and  the 
old  factory  united  with  the  new  into  a  single  great  arena  for 
industry  and  activity.  This  was  a  great  change,  which  was 
much  discussed,  gladly  welcomed  by  some,  scornfully  criti- 
cised by  others,  but  which  still  made  scarcely  so  much  talk 
as  the  change  in  my  own  fortunes. 

From  the  obscure  chrysalis  of  an  ordinary  machinist,  had 
been  developed  that  splendid  butterfly,  the  ruling  chief  of 
this  great  new  establishment,  and  this  enviable  butterfly  was 
the  son-in-law  of  a  millionaire,  the  husband  of  a  young  wife 
whose  striking  beauty  excited  the  envy  of  women,  the  ad- 
miration of  men,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  all  wherever 
she  appeared,  To  so  notable  a  metamorphosis  even  the 
blase,  public  of  a  metropolis  could  not  be  indifferent,  and 
when  so  remarkable  a  person,  over  whose  past  life  there  cir- 
culated the  most  various  and  scarcely  credible  legends, 
determines  to  baffle  the  curiosity  directed  to  him  from  all 
sides,  he  must  understand  and  practise  arts  undreamed  of 
by  him  in  his  former  obscure  pupa-state. 

I  cannot  say  that  in  the  practice  of  an  art  so  new  to  me  I 
always  succeeded,  or  was  at  all  times  favored  by  fortune. 

After  spending  a  fortnight  at  Zehrendorf,  we  had  returned 
to  the  city  and  rented  a  set  of  apartments  by  no  means  expen- 


620 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


sive,  but  still  pleasant  and  roomy,  the  only  objection  I  had  to 
which  was  that  they  lay  too  far  from  the  factory,  but  which 
by  no  means  suited  Hermine,  who  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  having  a  house  of  her  own.  Now,  as  I  knew  and 
shared  Hermine's  wish  in  this  respect,  I  thought  I  would 
please  her,  and  at  J:he  same  time  realize  a  favorite  dream  of 
my  own,  if  with  the  assistance  of  my  good  friend  the  archi- 
tect, I  very  quietly,  but  with  as  much  expedition  as  possible, 
restored  the  house  I  had  so  long  occupied,  to  its  original  de- 
sign, and  by  help  of  the  old  plan,  turned  it  into  a  charming 
little  villa.  I  had  to  use  an  infinity  of  stratagems  to  keep 
the  secret  a  month,  and  I  felt  really  childlike,  as  after  return- 
ing from  a  winter  trip  with  Hermine  to  Zehrendorf,  I  found 
everything  complete  and  according  to  my  wishes.  In  the 
joy  of  my  heart  I  embraced  my  friend  the  architect  who  had 
shown  himself  so  tasteful  a  decorator,  and  blessed  the  day 
when  I  should  bring  Sermine  from  her  hated  city  lodgings 
to  this  little  paradise. 

"  You  dear  boy,"  said  Hermine,  as  on  the  day  after  her 
return  I  showed  her  with  triumph  my  new  creation,  "you 
dear  boy,  that  is  all  very  pretty  and  nice,  and  in  the  summer, 
for  a  couple  of  weeks  or  months  which  we  have  to  pass  in 
this  wretched  town  and  not  in  Zehrendorf,  it  will  be  a  very 
nice  place  to  stay ;  but  now,  in  the  middle  of  winter — no, 
George,  it  will  never  do  !  It  makes  me  shiver  to  think  of  it. 
And  then  the  great  bare  buildings  around,  and  the  tall 
chimneys  that  look  as  if  they  would  topple  over  on  our 
heads  every  minute — that  one  does  lean  a  little — just  look  at 
it — I  could  not  sleep  here  a  single  night  in  peace.  And  you 
are  already  too  fond  of  the  horrible  noise  and  confusion 
around  us  here,  so  that  the  thought  will  come  into  my  head 
that  you  might  change  into  some  frightful  great  machine 
yourself.  No,  you  must  mix  more  among  men,  go  into 
society ;  you  must  begin  at  last  to  have  a  little  pleasure  of 
your  life,  you  poor,  overworked  man  !  And  you  can  do  this 
better  in  our  old  lodgings ;  so  I  think  we  will  spend  the  win- 
ter there.  The  rent  is  paid  in  advance,  anyhow,  and  we 
must  be  economical,  as  all  young  beginners  should.  Have 
I  not  heard  that  out  of  your  own  distinguished  mouth,  sir? 
And  now  put  down  your  distinguished  mouth  and  give  me  a 
kiss,  and  that  settles  the  matter." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  62 1 

Of  course  that  settled  the  matter ;  for  I  had  really  planned 
the  whole  for  Hermine's  sake  rather  than  my  own.  And  if 
she  really  wished  to  make  a  pleasure-trip  or  two  from  our 
lonely  island  upon  the  sea  of  city  life,  I  was  certainly  not 
the  man  to  say  no.  Indeed  I  saw  perfectly  that  in  my 
present  position  I  was  in  duty  bound  to  perform  certain 
social  duties,  if  not  for  my  own  pleasure,  at  least  in  the  in- 
terest of  my  business,  and  that  I  had  already  some  derelic- 
tions in  this  respect  to  make  good. 

So  I  returned  without  a  sigh  to  our  city-lodgings,  and 
while  we  were  at  dinner  we  drew  up,  with  much  merriment, 
a  list  of  tne  influential  persons  upon  whom,  as  Hermine  said, 
we  would  make  our  first  social  experiment. 

I  cannot  say  that  this  experiment  was  crowned  with  very 
brilliant  success.  True  we  were  most  kindly  met,  and  I  for 
my  part  took  all  possible  pains — and  as  I  flattered  myself,  not 
unsuccessfully — to  play^  the  agreeable  host  \  and  Hermine 
had  really  no  need  to  take  pains  to  be  the  most  charming 
of  the  company.  Upon  this  point  there  seemed,  so  far  as  a 
young  husband  can  judge  in  such  a  matter,  to  be  but  one 
opinion.  The  gentlemen  were  full  of  sincere  admiration  of 
her  beauty,  her  manners,  and  whatever  else  is  attractive  in 
a  young  and  charming  woman ;  and  if  the  admiration  of  the 
other  sex  was  not  altogether  so  sincere,  they  knew  how  to 
give  it  so  enthusiastic  an  expression  that  it  needed  a  much 
readier  wit  than  I  could  boast  of  to  find  always  a  fit  answer 
to  all  the  handsome  things  that  were  whispered  to  me  about 
my  wife. 

"  What  makes  you  so  charming  ?  "  I  used  to  say  to  her 
sometimes,  when  we  came  home  after  one  of  these  social  ex- 
periments, and  Hermine  was  walking  up  and  down  our  sit- 
ting-room in  her  full  evening  dress,  as  she  had  a  way  of 
doing,  stopping  now  and  then  to  strike  a  few  chords  on  the 
piano,  while  I  leaned  back  in  the  rocking-chair  smoking  my 
beloved  cigar. 

Then  she  would  suddenly  stop,  and  begin  to  take  off  the 
company  we  had  just  left,  in  the  most  amusing  and  wittiest 
style  of  caricature.  There  was  Privy-Councillor  Zieler,  our 
banker,  who  kept  perpetually  glancing  down  at  three  family- 
orders  at  his  button-hole,  which  had  been  graciously  bestowed 
on  him  by  three  small  princely  houses  in  return  for  his  ser- 


622  ^  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

vices  in  negotiating  a  loan  for  them ;  there  came  his  lady 
rustling  along  in  the  heaviest  of  satins,  her  snub  nose  turned 
up  to  the  chandeliers,  in  whose  light  the  diamonds  that 
decked  her  bosom  glanced  so  splendidly ;  and  behind  the 
corpulent  mamma  floated  the  sylph-like  daughter,  all  gauze 
and  Ess.  Bouquet  and  fond  memories  of  the  three  court- 
balls  at  the  three  princely  houses.  Here  was  the  Railroad 
Director  Schwelle,  who  would  not  talk  before  supper,  in 
order  not  to  excite  himself,  had  no  time  to  talk  during  sup- 
per, and  after  supper  was  in  no  condition  for  talking.  Here 
were  the  two  Misses  Bostelmann,  the  intellectual  daughters 
of  our  host — a  wealthy  contractor  for  building-stone — be- 
tween whom  Hermine  had  sat  awhile,  during  which  time  the 
one  entertained  her  unremittingly  with  Heine,  while  the 
other,  with  equal  persistence  and  enthusiasm  discoursed  of 
Lenau. 

"  Heine — Lenau  ;  Lenau — Heine !  It  was  enough  to  drive 
one  wild  !"  cried  Hermine.  "  And  that  they  call  pleasure  ! 
Would  you  venture  to  maintain  that  doctrine,  Sir .?" 

"  I  made  no  assertion  of  the  kind,  Madam  !" 

"  Indeed  !  And  why  then  do  you  drag  your  poor  little 
wife  among  these  horrible  people,  and  rob  her  of  the  happy 
hours  that  she  might  spend  in  a  delightful .  tete-^-t^te  with 
her  monster  of  a  husband  ?  Is  that  right  ?  Is  that  the  love 
that  you  vowed  to  me  in  the  St.  Nicholas  church  at  Uselin  be- 
fore all  the  assembled  population  ?  Heine — Lenau ;  Lenau 
—Heine  !     Oh !" 

I  laughed,  and  then  suddenly  became  grave,  and  the  re- 
mark rose  to  my  lips  that  it  was  perhaps  not  difficult  to  prove 
that  we  could  find  no  pleasant  people  to  live  with,  if  we  did 
not  choose  to  live  with  those  that  we  really  liked. 

And  where  were  at  this  time  the  people  who  were  really 
dear  to  me  ? 

The  good  Fraulein  Duff,  Hermine's  most  faithful  friend, 
was  with  her  relations  in  Saxony.  She  had  only  gone  on  a 
short  visit,  for  eight  weeks  at  the  furthest,  and  the  eight 
weeks  had  lengthened  to  as  many  months.  Where  was 
Paula .''  Eight  hundred  miles  away,  under  another  sky, 
which  I  trusted  shone  as  brightly  on  her  as  she  deserved. 
It  had  been  now  five  months  since  Paula,  with  her  mother 
and  her  youngest  brother,  Oscar,  and  accompanied,  as  a 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


623 


matter  of  course,  by  old  Sflssmilch,  had  taken  a  journey  to 

Italy. 

"  Had  to  go,"  said  Doctor  Snellius.  "  What  would  you 
have,  sir  ?  It  was  an  unavoidable  necessity.  An  artist  like 
Paula  cannot  possibly  develop  her  talents  here,  in  this  small, 
petty,  narrow,  dark  land  of  fog.  Sunshine,  light,  air,  those 
were  what  she  needed.  Venice,  Rome,  Naples,  Capri — 
what  do  I  know  ?  I  was  never  there  ;  shall  never  go  there  ; 
wouldn't  know  what  to  do  there  ;  but  she  knows  well,  and 
we  shall  know  it  and  see  it  at  the  next  Exposition,  when 
people  will  make  pilgrimages  to  her  pictures  as  if  they  were 
miracles.  Her  mother  too,  that  angel  of  a  woman,  will  feel 
the  benefit  of  a  residence  in  a  milder  climate,  and  as  for 
that  young  fellow  Oscar,  a  young  crocodile  like  him  cannot 
be  put  into  the  water  too  soon.  It  is  only  in  the  water  that 
one  learns  to  swim,  sir  !  Only  in  the  water,  even  when  one 
is  born  a  crocodile,  that  is,  has  such  an  incredible  talent  as 
that  youngster  has.  It  will  cost  a  fabulous  sum,  to  be  sure  ; 
but  she  can  afford  it  now,  thank  heaven,  and  after  all  it  is 
golden  seed  which  will  bring  forth  fruit  a  hundred  and  a 
thousand  fold.  She  felt  some  hesitation  on  this  point,  but  I 
persuaded  her  into  it,  and  she  writes  me  in  her  last  letter — 
where  did  I  put  it  ?  I  want  to  show  you  what  she  says  ; 
well,  it  is  no  matter ;  I  will  show  it  to  you  the  next  time, 
if  you  remind  me — anyhow  she  writes  me  so  happily,  so 
very  happily,  that  it  even  made  me  happy.  God  bless 
her  ! " 

This  was  the  way  the  doctor  talked  to  me,  shortly  after 
Paula's  departure,  which  happened  early  in  October,  when  I 
had  been  married  three  months,  during  a  journey  which  I 

had  to  make  to  St on  business,  and  on  which  Hermine 

accompanied  me.  "  For  you  know,"  said  the  doctor,  "  in 
such  cases  one  must  take  advantage  of  an  opportunity,  as 
Nature  does,  when  for  example  she  separates  soul  and  body 
by  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  or  paralysis  of  the  heart  while 
the  patient  sleeps,  or  when  the  band  connecting  both  has 
been  sufficiently  loosened  by  long  sickness,  so  that  the  part- 
ing is  scarcely  painful,  and  sometimes  is  even  longed  for.  It 
would  perhaps  have  been  a  hard  trial  for  poor  Paula  to 
leave  you,  had  she  gone  from  your  presence  direct  to  the 
railroad-car ;  but  it  happened  that  you  were  not  there,  and 


624  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

whether  there  are  eighty  or  eight  hundred  miles  between  you 
makes  very  little  difference." 

"  When  she  separates  soul  and  body."  This  was  one  of 
the  physiological  illustrations  which  the  doctor  was  fond  of 
introducing  into  his  discourse,  but  it  struck  me  strangely. 
I  looked  him  fixedly  in  the  eye,  and  by  an  energetic  effort 
he  tuned  down  his  voice  a  couple  of  octaves,  and  continued 
in  a  more  indifferent  tone  : 

"  And  then  a  temporary  separation  will  not  only  be 
beneficial  to  them,  but  it  will  be  a  good  thing  for  the  boys 
that  stay  behind.  It  is  time  Benno  and  Kurt  were  cutting 
loose  from  their  sister's  apron-strings.  Young  men  must 
learn  to  think  and  care  for  themselves,  and  to  stand  upon 
their  own  feet.  I  know  that  from  my  own  experience.  Had 
my  old  father  sent  me  to  Bonn  or  Heidelberg,  instead  of 
shutting  me  up  here  for  four  years  under  the  shadow  of  his 
church-steeple  in  the  old  worm-eaten  superintendent's  house, 
I  might  have  spread  my  wings  better,  and  would  not  have 
been  the  cross-patch  I  am  now  ;  that  is,  if  any  man  who  has 
been  christened  Willibrod — Willibrord  it  should  be  correctly 
— out  of  love  for  an  ancestor  who  has  been  in  his  grave  these 
two  hundred  years,  has  any  chance  left  to  be  anything  but  a 
cross-patch  and  oddity." 

The  letter  in  which  Paula  wrote  to  the  doctor  how  happy 
she  felt  in  that  far-distant  land,  I  never  succeeded  in  getting 
a  sight  of.  The  next  time  he  had  forgotten  it ;  and  after 
awhile  I  grew  used  to  the  doctor's  regularly  wanting  to  show 
me  the  letters  which  Paula  wrote  him  from  Venice,  Rome, 
and  Naples,  and  as  regularly  leaving  them  at  home. 

I  do  not  know  why  it  was  that  I  always  felt  a  singular  con- 
fusion whenever  the  doctor  began  one  of  his  fi^itless  searches 
for  Paula's  letter,  and  why  I  always  tried  to  get  him  upon 
another  subject  as  soon  as  possible.  Not  that  I  had  any 
doubt  of  Paula's  alleged  happiness.  The  short  and  unfre- 
quent  letters  which  she  wrote  to  Hermine  and  myself  con- 
veyed no  intimation  to  the  contrary ;  but  I  was  by  no  means 
quite  assured  as  to  the  source  from  which  that  happiness 
flowed,  and  the  letters,  whether  addressed  to  myself  or  to 
Hermine,  had  all  the  same  physiognomy,  in  which  I  could 
only  here  and  there  recognize  a  trace  of  the  beloved  features 
of  Paula.     And  the  longer  the  separation  lasted,  the  shorter 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  625 

and  fewer  were  these  letters,  so  that  they  were  nearly  as 
brief  and  rare  as 'the  doctor's  visits. 

"  It  must  be  so,"  said  the  doctor,  as  I  once  assailed  him 
with  friendly  reproaches  on  this  point ;  "  a  young  married 
pair  is  like  a  young  plant,  which  thrives  best  when  put  under 
a  bell-glass,  and  meddled  with  as  little  as  possible.  Men 
call  Love  a  goddess  ;*  but  to  me  it  appears  a  god  ;  a  stern, 
inapproachable,  jealous  god,  that  will  endure  no  rivals,  and 
who  puts  to  the  sword  all  colleagues  that  he  may  find  in  his 
chosen  realm,  be  they  lovely  Astartes  or  hideous  Mumbo- 
Jumbos.  And  he  is  quite  right  to  do  so  ;  the  human  heart 
is  a  stubborn,  cross-grained  affair,  and  takes  a  frightfully 
long  time  in  learning  merely  to  spell  through  the  ten  com- 
mandments." 

The  doctor  always  said  things  of  this  sort  in  a  very  kind  tone, 
the  same  that  I  heard  him  use  in  speaking  to  his  patients,  and 
was  at  all  times  full  of  friendliness  and  attention,  even  more 
towards  my  wife  than  myself  Indeed  a  peculiar  relation 
seemed  to  have  been  established  between  Hermine  and  him. 
She,  with  her  usual  impulsiveness,  had  at  first  made  no  se- 
cret of  the  dislike  with  which  she  regarded  my  old  friend, 
and  often  enough  ridiculed,  even  in  his  presence,  his  odd 
eccentric  ways.  But  the  man  who  on  other  occasions  had 
the  keenest  arrows  in  his  quiver  ready  for  any  aggressor, 
let  him  be  who  he  might,  and  who  did  not  lightly  grant  quar- 
ter to  an  antagonist,  on  no  occasion  used  his  powerful 
weapons  against  her ;  and  this  gentleness  which  nothing 
could  change,  and  which  was  assuredly  not  always  easy  for 
the  hot  and  caustic  temper  of  the  man,  succeeded  at  last, 
however  she  might  resist,  in  touching  and  captivating  Her- 
mine. Perhaps  this  happy  result  may  have  been  in  part 
owing  to  the  fact  that  lately  she  had  received  the  doctor  not 
only  as  my  friend,  but  as  her  medical  adviser. 

"  He  is  really  too  good !  "  she  said  more  than  once,  look- 
ing thoughtfully  at  the  door  through  which  the  odd  figure  of 
my  old  friend  had  just  vanished. 

"  There  is  not  much  the  matter  with  your  wife,"  said  the 
doctor  to  me,  when  I  expressed  some  uneasiness  at  Her- 
mine's  altered  looks.     "  But  she  has  been  used  from  child- 


*"  Die  Liebe"  is  feminine  in  G.-rman.'"  -T?. 
27 


626  Hammer  and  Anvil.  ' 

hood  to  freer  exercise  and  fresher  air  than  can  be  had  in  a 
city  Uke  this." 

"I  would  with  pleasure  take  her  to  Zehrendorf,"  I  said  ; 
"  but  now  it  is  winter  ;  and  how  can  I  possibly  leave  here  ?  " 

"  Well,  as  it  is  an  impossibility,  we  will  not  rack  our  brains 
any  more  about  it,"'  replied  the  doctor.  "  We  must  do  the  best 
we  can.  Sometimes  mental  activity  may,  to  a  certain  point, 
make  up  for  the  deficiency  of  physical.  It  is  a  pity  that 
your  wife  was  so  soon  satiated  with  the  bustle  of  society. 
Why  do  you  not  take  her  sometimes  to  the  theatre  or  the 
opera.'     She  is  so  great  a  lover  of  music." 

"  I  do  not  care  to  go  to  the  opera  any  more,"  said  Her- 
mine,  after  we  had  tried  it  a  few  times.  "  They  sing  badly 
and  play  worse.  Now  could  you  call  that  a  Zerlina  ?  And 
that  Dan  yuan  '  You  might  have  waited  for  me  long 
enough,  if  you  had  been  such  a  stick  of  a  lover  as  that  ! 
And  with  such  monstrous  self-conceit  to  boot !  Masetto  was 
really  the  better  man." 

"  Try  the  theatre  once,"  said  the  doctor.        I 

I  looked  him  full  in  the  eyes. 

"  The  Bellini  has  been  back  a  week,"  he  added,  and  brought 
his  round  spectacles  to  bear  upon  me.  We  looked  at  each 
other  awhile  in  silence. 

"  Your  wife  does  not  know  that  Fraulein  Bellini  and  a 
certain  other  lady  are  one  and  the  same  person  ?  "  he  pres- 
ently asked.  ! 

"  No,"  I  answered. 

"  And  you  are  not  willing  to  tell  her  ?  Not  willing  to  tell 
her  what  I  know,  who  am  your  friend,  and  what  very  prob- 
ably others  know,  who  are  not  your  friends .''  " 

"  It  is  a  peculiar  sort  of  thing,  doctor." 

"  There  are  many  peculiar  things,  especially  in  a  new  mar- 
ried life." 

"  Which  one  would  do  more  wisely  to  keep  to  liimself." 

"  Not  in  all  cases,"  replied  the  doctor.  "  Whatever  can 
be  communicated,  should  be,  always ;  and  there  is  but  little, 
hardly  anything,  which  a  young  husband  should  not  tell  his 
wife.  In  a  river  crawling  sluggishly  between  sandy  shores 
to  the  end  of  its  course,  every  stone  lies  unmoved ;  but  a 
stream  bursting  fresh  and  joyous  from  the  mountain  will 
roll  and  whirl  along  heavy  masses  of  rock,  its  young  strength 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  (>-l 

sweeping   everything   before   it.     Think   it   over,  my   dear 

friend." 

I  had  thought  it  over,  but  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  fol- 
low the  doctor's  advice.  It  was  not  cowardice  that  kept  me 
silent,  but  rather  a  feeling  of  shame  that  I  could  not  over- 
come,' and  a  fear  of  the  consequences  upon  a  character  so 
])eculiar  as  Hermine's,  and  in  her  present  state  of  health. 
And  yet  the  revelation  hovered  more  than  once  upon  my 
lips,  but  crept  back  again  to  my  heart,  that  beat  uneasily 
when  in  almost  every  number  of  the  papers  I  came  across 
the  ominous  name,  and  Hermine  once  or  twice  said  casually. 
"  We  ought  really  to  see  this  Bellini  they  talk  so  much 
about." 

They  did  indeed  talk  much  about  her.  "  Are  you  a  Bel- 
linist  or  an  anti-Bellinist  ?  "  was  the  question  in  all  salons  .- 
"  the  Bellini  is  a  marvel,"  "  the  Bellini  is  nothing  at  all," 
said  the  papers.  I  did  not  know  which  party  was  right,  nor 
wish  to  know ;  and  right  glad  was  I  that  Hermine  seemed 
as  little  curious  in  the  matter  as  myself,  until  one  day,  when 
I  had  replied,  in  answer  to  her  question,  that  I  was  disen- 
gaged that  evening,  she  startled  me  by  saying : 

"  Then  we  will  go  this  evening  and  see  the  Bellini." 

"  If  you  wish,"  I  answered,  with  the  determination  of  a 
man  who  sees  that  he  has  met  a"fatality  that  is  too  strong  for 
him. 

And  we  went  to  the  theatre  and  saw  Ada  Bellini  as  Juliet 
in  Shakespeare's  tragedy.  I  cannot  assert  that  I  felt  any 
inclination  to  join  in  the  enthusiastic  applause  that  was 
lavished  upon  the  actress  by  the  crowded  house,  nor  in  the 
hisses  that  were  occasionally  heard,  but  only  to  be  over- 
whelmed by  fresh  plaudits.  Nor  can  I  say  that  in  the  course 
of  the  evening  I  found  myself  able  to  pass  a  critical  judg- 
ment ufKjn  the  artist.  However  attentively  I  watched  the 
stage,  I  saw  little  more  than  if  I  had  gazed  at  vacancy, 
dreaming  of  times  long  past,  and  wishing  at  intervals  that 
this  evening  also  belonged  to  past  time,  I  remember  that 
once  arousing  from  this  unpleasant  reverie  and  looking  at 
Hermine,  I  caught  her  eye  fastened  upon  me  with  a  mysteri- 
ous expression  ;  but  she  only  jested  at  my  indifference  as  we 
drove  home,  and  declared  that  the  question  of  Bellinist  and 
anti-Bellinist  was  settled  for  her. 


628 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


"  With  what  result  ?  "  I  asked,  lighting  my  cigar  from  the 
lamp. 

"  And  are  you  going  to  smoke  now,  you  unfeeling  man  ? 
Do  you  suppose  that  Romeo  would  have  poisoned  himself  if 
he  had  had  a  cigar  in  his  pocket  with  the  fatal  flask  ?  Much 
good  may  your  cigar  do  you,  dear  Romeo  :  Juliet  will  bid 
you  good-night." 

This  evening  for  the  first  time  I  smoked  my  nightly  cigar 
alone  ;  and  never  did  I  smoke  one  in  deeper  reflection. 

"  The  doctor  was  right,  "  I  said  to  myself,  as  I  threw  the 
stump  into  the  dying  coals  on  the  hearth,  and  rose  with  a 
sigh  from  my  easy-chair  ;  "perfectly  right.  I  must  wait  for 
a  favorable  opportunity." 

But  as  it  usually  happens  in  such  cases,  a  week  passed, 
two  weeks  passed,  and  the  opportunity  did  not  occur.  Nor 
did  the  necessity  seem  very  urgent,  as  Hermine  had  not 
spoken  again  of  going  to  the  theatre.  She  still  felt  unwell, 
and  the  doctor's  visits  were  more  frequent  than  formerly. 

"  Have  you  told  your  wife  yet  who  the  Bellini  is  ? "  he 
asked  me  one  day. 

"  Not  yet." 

"  She  knows  it." 

"  Impossible  !  " 

"  She  knows  it ;  I  give  you  my  word  upon  that." 

"  Has  she  said  so  to  you  ?  " 

"No."  '    ' 

"  How  then ?  " 

"  How  then  ?  A  physician,  my  dear  fellow,  has  sharp 
ears,  and  a  physician  who  is  the  friend  of  the  family,  as  he 
should  always  be,  has  them  doubly  sharp.  He  hears  be- 
tween the  words  that  are  spoken  ;  and  I  can  only  repeat  to 
you  that  I  have  heard  between  the  words  of  your  wife,  and 
learned  that  she  knows  the  Bellini  to  be  Constance  von  Zeh- 
ren,  and  that  she  knows  more  beside.  Whether  she  knows 
all,  and  whether  she  knows  the  real  truth,  is  only  known  to 
the  person  that  told  her." 

"  And  that  is ?  "  | 

"  Our  common  friend  Arthur." 

"  Arthur  has  not  been  in  the  city  for  eight  weeks." 

"  Our  postal  system  forwards  with  admirable  fidelity  all 
letters  intrusted  to  it,  even  anonymous  ones." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  629 

"But  good  heaven,  doctor,  what  interest   could  Arthur 

have ? " 

"  Revenge  is  sweet,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  In  this  case  it  would  be  stupid  too,  for " 

"  It  is  often  stupid  too." 

"  For  the  steuerrath  lives  almost  exclusively  upon  my 
father-in-law's  purse,  and  I  bought  a  considerable  place  for 
Arthur  only  yesterday,  and  upon  the  table  there  lies  a  letter 
in  which  he  asks  me  again  for  a  large  loan  of  money." 

"  All  that  makes  no  difference.  And  my  dear  George, 
don't  take  to  moping.  You  are  a  man,  and  there  is  no 
occasion  here  for  despair.  We  must  not  take  things  harder 
than  they  are  ;  the  really  hard  ones  cannot  be  made  any 
lighter  so,  and  with  this  latter  article  I  should  think  you 
were  already  sufficiently  supplied." 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

AND  in  this  the  good  doctor  was  perfectly  right,  in  a 
wider  sense  than  he  had  himself  any  idea  of. 

It  was  not  merely  that  without  sufficient  experience 
I  had  to  a  certain  extent  to  find  my  way  in  a  vast  domain 
of  industry,  at  that  time  scarcely  explored  by  us  Germans. 
I  shared  that  plight  however  with  all  my  rivals,  who,  how- 
ever great  their  experience  in  other  branches,  in  the  con- 
struction of  locomotives  were  as  much  novices  as  I  was 
myself  And  any  advantage  that  they  might  have  over  me 
in  more  extended  knowledge,  could  perhaps  be  equalized 
by  diligence.  In  this  point,  in  truth,  I  had  no  slight  confi- 
dence in  myself;  indeed  I  was  conscious  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  load  which  now  rested  upon  me  was  far  from  being 
a  light  one,  I  could  still  take  additional  weight  upon  my 
shoulders.  But  a  man  who  carries  a  heavy  burden  must  at 
least  see  clearly  the  way  that  he  has  to  follow,  or  all  his 
strength  and  endurance  cannot  preserve  him  from  stumbling 
and  p>ossibly  falling.  So  was  it  here.  I  was  confused  in  all 
my  plans,  hampered  in  my  movements,  and  checked  in  my 
resolutions,  because  at  all  times  I  had  to  look  around  for  the 


630 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


man  who  should  stand  at  my  back  and  upon  whom  I  was  forced 
to  rely,  and  who  often  in  the  most  critical  moments  was  no 
more  to  be  found. 

Not  to  be  found,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  words.  The 
commerzienrath  had  always  been  a  restless  man,  as  could 
hardly  have  been  otherwise  with  the  multiplicity  of  business 
that  he  had  in  various  places,  and  with  his  maxim  that  noth- 
ing was  well  done  unless  you  do  it  yourself  "  I  am,"  he 
used  to  say  in  confidential  moments  over  a  bottle,  "  like 
Caesar,  or  whatever  the  fellow's  name  was,  with  whom  to 
come,  to  see,  and  to  conquer,  were  all  one.  To  come,  to 
see,  to  conquer — that  is  the  art  of  success  !  " 

And  now  he  came  and  went  more  frequently  than  ever ; 

to-day  in  Uselin,  to-morrow  in  St. ,  then  here  again,  and 

the  next  day  in  hot  haste  to  Zehrendorf,  where  my  following 
letter  did  not  reach  him,  because  in  the  meantime  he  was  at 


St. 


again,  or  heaven  knows  where.     This  had  now  be- 


come a  regular  thing ;  and  I  made  besides  the  unpleasant 
discovery  that  he  was  always  hardest  to  find  and  had  cov- 
ered his  tracks  most  carefully,  precisely  when  he  was  most 
needed.  Was  this  his  old  cuttle-fish  manoeuvre  which  he  was 
so  fond  of  using  in  conversation,  now  applied  in  a  practical 
form  ?  was  it  more  than  this  .-' 

Yes,  the  commerzienrath  came  and  went  enough,  but  the 
seeing  and  conquering  by  no  means  corresponded.  His  blue 
eyes  were  now  too  often  dimmed  by  a  watery  mist,  and  how- 
ever grand  his  vauntings,  his  appearance  was  by  no  means 
that  of  a  conqueror.  The  impression  that  had  struck  me 
when  I  first  saw  him  again  at  Zehrendorf,  that  the  commer- 
zienrath had  become  an  old  man,  was  now  most  painfully 
confirmed,  and  not  to  me  only,  his  old  business  friends  were 
struck  with  the  change  that  had  taken  place  in  him, 

"  Your  father-in-law  has  grown  strangely  irritable  of  late," 
said  the  banker  Zieler.  "  The  commerzienrath  ought  to  give 
himself  more  rest,"  occasionally  remarked  the  Railroad  Di- 
rector Schwelle.  "  My  honored  patron,  the  Herr  Commer- 
zienrath, is  in  a  very  bad  humor  to-day,"  whispered  to  me 
the  landlord  of  the  hotel  where  he  used  to  stop,  for  he  never 
stayed  at  our  house ;  and  even  the  waiters  privately  shrugged 
their  shoulders  when  the  old  man  over  his  bottle  stormed  at 
them  like  a  madman  for  some  real  or  fancied  neglect 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  631 

No ;  the  man  with  the  blinking  watery  eyes,  and  the  pet- 
ulant temper,  doubly  noticeable  and  disagreeable  in  a  man 
of  his  years,  did  not  look  like  a  conqueror,  nor  was  he  one. 

Long  as  our  intimate  relations  had  now  continued,  I  knew 
of  no  triumph  that  he  had  won.  It  was  assuredly  no  tri- 
umph for  the  Croesus  of  Uselin  that  he  had  been  compelled 
to  close  his  vasl  grain-trade,  nor  was  it  any  triumph  that  even 
after  this  retreat  in  good  order,  as  he  termed  it,  no  order 
could  be  brought  into  our  financial  arrangements.  On  the 
contrary,  we  were  more  pressed  fo»  ready  money  than  ever ; 
so  hardly  pressed  that  I  struggled  from  one  embarrassment 
to  another,  and  was  really  often  brought  to  the  verge  of  des- 
pair. Not  only  was  I  most  seriously  hampered  in  my  busi- 
ness operations  by  the  perpetual  uncertainty  in  which  my 
father-in-law  kept  me,  I  also  was  harassed  by  the  equally 
painful  feeling  that  I  had  not  been  able  to  introduce  a  single 
one  of  those  improvements  in  the  condition  of  my  workmen 
over  which,  in  by-gone  hopeful  times,  the  doctor,  Klaus,  and 
I  had  so  often  laid  our  heads  together,  and  drained  so  many 
a  glass  of  grog.  A  chief  who  does  not  know  how  he  shall 
meet  his  pecuniary  obligations  the  next  day  is  in  no  position 
to  make  concessions  to  his  workmen  to  which  he  is  not 
pledged,  to  which  he  is  not  bound  by  the  letter  of  any  con- 
tract, only  by  the  voice  in  his  own  heart  pleading  for  the 
poor.  There  were  even  times — and  I  think  of  them  now  as 
one  recalls  a  peculiarly  frightful  dream — when  I  felt  that  I 
would  close  my  heart  against  a  cry  of  distress,  even  against 
a  timidly  murmured  complaint,  and  when  the  example  of  my 
rivals,  who  had  lowered  the  daily  wages  a  groschen,  seemed^ 
one  that  I  ought  to  follow.  I  remember  that  at  these  times 
it  was  as  if  a  gray  veil  had  been  spread  over  the  world,  that 
neither  food  nor  drink  were  pleasant  to  me,  that  I  tossed 
sleepless  upon  my  bed  as  if  I  had  a  murder  upon  my  con- 
science, that  I  went  to  and  fro  by  the  most  unfrequented 
streets,  and  if  I  met  an  acquaintance,  pulled  my  hat  over  my 
face  and  crossed  to  the  other  side.  Once,  as  the  load  upon 
my  heart  was  almost  unbearable,  I  hastened  to  my  friend,  as 
the  tortured  patient  hastens  to  the  physician,  and  poured  my 
sorrows  into  his  faithful  breast.  He  listened  to  me  with  kind- 
ness, and  said  : 

"  I  have  seen  this  coming,  my  dear  George  j  so  it  is  noth- 


632  Hammer  and  An-oil. 

ing  which  lies  outside  of  human  calculation,  and  conse- 
quently need  not  be  despaired  of,  for  the  fault  may  be  re- 
paired by  time  and  endurance.  He  who  desires  to  preserve 
the  freedom  of  his  resolutions  must  not  attach  himself  to  any 
point  on  which  others  have  fastened  their  unclean  and  dis- 
honorable webs,  and  where  there  cannot  fail  to  be  confusion 
and  entanglement.  Wealth  which,  like  your  father-in-law's, 
has  not  been  acquired  with  perfectly  clean  hands,  cannot  be 
kept  without  some  soil.  He  who  wishes  to  remain  impartial 
in  the  cause  of  Hammer  -irersus  Anvil — no  one  can  keep  free 
from  participation  in  it — must  not  place  himself  decisively 
on  either  side  ;  and  to  a  certain  extent  you  have  done  this. 
Your  father-in-law  is  a  knight  of  the  hammer,  and  you — you 
are  his  son-in-law,  that  is,  the  first  of  his  followers,  revolt  as 
much  as  you  may  against  this  unpleasant  truth.  And  my 
friend,  I  see,  as  things  now  are,  no  escape  from  this  laby- 
rinth but  one,  and  that  is  that  the  case  shall  be  brought  as 
soon  as  possible  before  that  higher  tribunal  of  the  great  laws 
of  economy,  and  there  be  decided  promptly  and  finally,  that 
you  may  become  the  free  man  you  were  before.  This  sounds 
very  hard,  very  cruel  ;  but  my  dear  friend,  you  cannot  take 
it  amiss  of  a  disciple  of  Hippocrates  if  he  holds  fast  to  that 
saying  of  his  master:  Qjiod  medicamenta  non  sanant,  ferrum 
sanat;  quod f err Jim  non  sanat,  ignis." 

The  higher  tribunal  to  which  the  doctor  had  referred  me, 
was  to  decide  for  the  Hippocratic  fire-method  in  my  case, 
sooner  than  perhaps  the  doctor  himself  expected. 

When  the  commerzienrath  complained  to  me  again  and 
g.gain  how  hard  it  was  just  now  to  raise  the  very  considera- 
ble amount  of  funds  which  I  needed  for  the  works,  I  had 
repeatedly  and  urgently  entreated  him  to  undertake  seriously 
the  sale  of  Zehrendorf.  Heaven  knows  how  hard  it  was  for 
me  to  press  this  upon  him.  Zehrendorf  had  grown  more 
dear  to  rne  than  I  can  express.  There  was  scarcely  a  clod 
on  which  my  foot  had  not  rested,  no  tree,  no  bush,  that  I 
had  not  become  attached  to.  The  prospect  of  being  able  to 
spend  a  day  at  Zehrendorf  made  every  labor  light,  and  bore 
me  over  many  a  care  ;  the  hope  of  passing  my  old  days  in 
the  place  where  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  my  life  I  had 
been  really  young  was  dearer  to  me  than  any  other.  And  I 
knew  that  Hermine  felt  the  same.     There  she  had  dreamed 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  633 

her  dream  of  love,  and  there  it  had  become  reality.  Had 
she  not  been  most  seriously  offended  with  me  when  her 
father  intentionally  gave  her  to  believe  that  I  was  the  origina- 
tor of  the  project  ?  Had  I  not  breathed  freely,  and  had  she 
not  loudly  exulted  when  the  sudden  sickness  of  the  old 
Prince  Prora  cut  short  the  negotiations ;  and  should  I  now 
be  really  the  man  who  was  to  deprive  her  and  myself  of  this 
treasure  ?  Not  I !  It  was  the  circumstances  that  were 
stronger  than  I  ;  circumstances  which  I  had  not  caused  and 
was  not  responsible  for,  but  which  I  could  not  allow  to  re- 
main as  they  were,  or  the  responsibility  would  really  fall  upon 
me.  This  I  knew  perfectly  well ;  so  I  urged  the  matter 
upon  my  father-in-law  again  and  again. 

Strange  to  say,  he  now  most  obstinately  resisted  my  ur- 
gency, as  if  the  project  had  not  been  of  his  own  devising. 
Did  he  really  fear  the  unfavorable  conjuncture  of  events  ? 
Did  he  really  believe  that  he  could  retain  the  property.^ 
Did  he  fear  what  malicious  tongues  would  say,  remembering 
that  when  he  closed  his  grain  business  he  gave  it  out  that  he 
was  tired  of  work  and  was  going  to  retire  to  his  country- 
seat  for  the  rest  of  his  old  age  ?  Was  it  simply  despotic  ob- 
stinacy, and  an  old  man's  waywardness .-'  I  did  not  know  ; 
and  could  not  even  say  with  certainty.  At  such  times  I  con- 
soled myself  with  the  thought  that  perhaps  the  storm  would 
blow  over ;  his  affairs  must  be  in  a  better  condition  than  I 
thought :  perhaps  he  has  grown  a  miser  in  his  old  days,  and 
is  holding  back  his  hoarded  treasures ;  for  it  it  impossible 
that  he  can  be  as  short  of  money  as  he  pretends  :  what  could 
he  possibly  have  done  with  it  ? 

"  Your  father-in-law  has  had  an  unlucky  day  to-day,"  said 
the  banker  Zieler  to  me,  as  coming  from  the  Exchange  one 
day,  he  met  me  on  the  street. 

"  How  so,  Herr  Privy-Councillor  ?  " 

"Well,  he  had  to  pay  a  difference  of  a  hundred  thousand 
thalers  upon  a  speculation  he  had  made  for  a  rise  in  alcohol : 
a  curious  miscalculation  in  so  experienced  a  man  of  busi- 
ness." 

A  hundred  thousand  thaien  at  a  moment  when  I  was  per- 
plexed to  raise  a^  thousand,  and  in  an  operation  of  which  he 
had  never  spoken  to  me,  and  which  lay  entirely  outside  of 
his  regular  business  !     I  could  not  altogether  keep  my  face 
27* 


634  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

from  indicating  the  alarm  that  this  piece  of  news  caused  me, 
and  the  councillor  must  have"  seen  it,  for  he  added  with  a 
smile  : 

"  Well,  well,  your  father-in-law  can  afford  himself  these 
little  amusements.  I  have  the  honor  to  wish  you  a  very 
good  day." 

I  did  not  take  this  view  of  it :  I  wrote  at  once  to  Uselin 
and  entreated  him  to  let  me  know  if  the  information,  which 
I  had  received  from  a  very  good  source,  was  really  true ; 
and  I  concluded  with  pressing  him  once  more  to  give  me  at 
last  a  clear  insight  into  his  affairs,  since  as  a  man  of  honor 
I  could  no  longer  endure  the  present  condition  of  things. 

In  answer  came  a  long  letter,  full  of  complaints  of  my 
want  of  confidence,  and  of  the  hard  fate  of  an  old  man  who 
was  deserted  by  his  children,  and  crammed  with  wordy 
boastings  about  his  fifty  years'  experience  in  business,  about 
his  well-proved  good-fortune,  and  ending  with  the  recommen- 
dation than  in  any  event  I  should  write  to  the  prince  at  once, 
and  ask  him  if  he  was  still  thinking  of  the  purchase  of 
Zehrendorf,  or  not. 

I  let  the  rest  of  the  letter  pass,  and  held  to  the  single 
fixed  point  that  it  contained.  I  wrote  at  once  to  the  young 
prince,  who  was  still  with  his  sick  father  in  Prora,  and  re- 
ceived in  reply  an  autograph  letter  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
been  intending  to  come  to  the  city,  and  would  carry  out  this 
intention  at  once.  He  would  arrive  on  Friday  at  four  o'clock, 
and  would  be  very  glad  to  see  me  an  hour  later  at  the  palace, 
where  we  could  talk  over  the  matter  at  length. 

And  so  it  was  to  be  then.  My  heart  felt  heavy  at  the 
thought,  but  I  suppressed  the  emotion  and  repeated  the 
doctor's  aphorism :  "what  medicines  and  iron  cannot  cure, 
must  be  cured  by  fire." 

In  this  half-dejected,  half-resolved  mood,  I  went  at  the 
appointed  day  and  hour  to  the  palace  of  the  prince. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  635 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE  prince  received  me  with  politeness  which  I  might 
almost  call  cordial.  He  had  arrived  half  an  hour 
before,  and  the  journey  through  the  cold  winter's  day 
seemed  to  have  done  him  good  ;  he  looked  fresh  and  youthful 
as  I  had  never  seen  him  before,  and  in  his  whole  bearing 
there  was  such  elasticity,  such  vivacity  in  his  discourse,  that 
I  could  scarcely  recognize  in  him  the  wearied  dreamer  in  the 
old  hunting-lodge  of  Rossow.  I  could  not  refrain  from  con- 
gratulating him  on  this  change,  which  I  attributed  to  his  im- 
proved health.  He  seemed  pleased  to  hear  it,  and  said  it 
was  high  time  for  him  to  have  outgrown  childish  distempers. 

"  I  have  always  resolved,"  he  said,  "  that  when  the  time 
came,  it  should  find  me  a  man  ;  and  I  believe  that  the  time 
has  come.  May  God  long  preserve  the  life  of  the  prince,  my 
father  ;  but  by  all  human  reckoning  his  days  are  numbered. 
It  may  justly  be  demanded  of  me  that  an  event  which  influ- 
ences the  destinies  of  thousands  shall  not  find  me  unpre- 
pared." 

The  prince  said  these  words  very  earnestly.  He  had  been 
walking  up  and  down  the  room,  and  stopped  before  a  por- 
trait which  represented  a  young  and  very  handsome  man  in 
a  rich  and  fantastic  dress. 

"  Strange,"  the  prince  went  on,  "  that  life  can  play  with 
us  thus !  See  here ;  this  is  the  portrait  of  the  prince,  my 
father,  in  his  twenty-eighth  year.  He  wore  that  dress  at  a 
masked  ball  at  court,  and  created  an  immense  furore,  and 
the  late  queen  insisted  that  he  should  have  his  portrait  taken 
in  it  for  her.  This  is  a  copy  of  the  original.  Do  vou  not 
find " 

He  suddenly  checked  himself^  threw  himself  into  an  easy 
chair,  giving  me  a  sign  to  be  seated,  and  continued : 

"  But  I  did  not  come  to  talk  with  you  about  myself  and 
my  affairs.  Your  own  have  changed  very  much  since  we 
last  met.  Why  sir,  you  are  a  great  diplomatist !  To  let  me 
talk  and  talk,  and  make  you  heaven  knows  what  well-meant 
proposals,  without  indicating  by  word  or  look  that  you  were, 
so   to   speak,  over   the   mountain,  at  the  foot  of  which  I 


636  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

thought  we  both  were  standing!  How  you  must  have 
laughed  in  your  sleeve  !  And  poor  Zehren  !  He  pretended 
to  be  as  much  astonished  as  I  was  myself.  But  I  believe  he 
knew  perfectly  well  how  things  stood,  for  though  I  have  always 
considered  him  half  fool,  I  have  a  strong  suspicion  that  he 
is  whole  knave.  I  should  be  glad  if  anybody  will  take  him 
off  my  hands  ;  he  is  sometimes  a  real  annoyance  to  me,  and 
yet  I  do  not  want  to  send  him  away.  I  have  been  thinking 
that  if  I  buy  Zehrendorf  from  you,  I  might  make  him  the 
bailiff  of  it,  or  rent  the  estate  to  him  ;  but  it  has  occurred  to 
me  that  you  might  not  like  that  arrangement.     Am  I  right  ?" 

"  Your  highness,"  I  replied,  "  Arthur  is  certainly  not  the 
proper  person  for  such  a  trust.  In  his  hands  all  the  excel- 
lent and  most  useful  improvements  that  have  been  made  at 
such  heavy  expense,  would  go  to  ruin.  I  confess  that  if  I 
believed  it  to  be  your  serious  intention — instead  of  being,  as 
I  am  sure,  only  the  suggestion  of  your  generous  heart — I 
would  even  now  at  the  twelfth  hour  endeavor  to  retain  Zeh- 
rendorf in  my  father-in-law's  possession,  greatly  as  I  desire, 
on  other  grounds,  to  effect  a  sale  of  it." 

'*  You  are  right — it  was  only  an  idea,"  said  the  prince. 
"  But  why  do  you  accord  me  this  so  flattering  preference  ? 
You  know  that  I  have  no  longer  the  same  interest  in  obtain- 
ing the  property,  that  I  had  last  spring,  and  that  in  conse- 
quence you  will  find  me  hard  to  deal  with." 

"  But  easier  than  Herr  von  Granow,  at  all  events." 

A  pleasant  smile  played  about  the  prince's  refined  lips. 

"  You  may  be  right  there,"  he  said.  "  That  fellow  is  a 
fox,  despite  his  bulldog-face.  He  has  sounded  me  once  or 
twice-  through  Zehren  and  the  justizrath,  to  find  out  if  I  have 
still  any  thoughts  of  buying  Zehrendorf.  It  seems  that  he 
wants  to  get  all  competitors  out  of  the  way,  to  be  the  only 
one  upon  the  field,  and  then  at  the  right  moment,  of  which 
the  justizrath  will  no  doubt  give  him  the  sign,  step  in  and 
secure  the  place  for  a  song.  No,  sir,  you  shall  not  fall  into 
the  dirty  hands  of  that  rascal  if  I  can  help  it." 

"  I  thank  your  highness,"  I  answered. 

"  I  have  to  thank  you,"  the  prince  replied,  "  that  you  again 
give  me  an  opportunity  to  discharge  an  old  debt  that  I  owe 
you.  Since  you  wrote  to  me  I  have  reflected  much  upon 
your  position :  indeed  I  may  say  that  at  no  time  have  you 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


637 


been  entirely  out  of  my  mind,  thanks  to  the  good  friends  of 
your  father-in-law.  You  yourself  probably  do  not  know  how 
much  is  said  about  him,  and  how  deeply  he  is  sunk  in 
general  estimation.  I  am  very  sorry  to  say  this  ;  and  I  say 
it  only  because  I  feel  it  is  due  to  you  as  the  person  nearest 
concerned,  to  let  you  know  what  others  perhaps  have  not 
the  courage  to  tell  you,  or  conceal  from  you  from  malicious 
motives.  The  commerzienrath's  credit  seems  to  me  greatly 
shaken ;  there  is  talk  of  immense  losses  that  he  has  lately 
incurred  ;  they  say  he  speculates  on  'Change  and  in  all  sorts 
of  hazardous  enterprises.  I  can  assure  you  he  is  considered 
half  insane  and  more  than  half  ruined  ;  though  it  is  true  that 
others  maintain  the  old  man  was  never  clearer-headed  than 
now,  and  never  richer ;  and  that  if  he  plays  the  fool  and  the 
bankrupt,  it  is  only  one  of  his  old  feints,  which  have  always 
been  successful.     What  is  your  own  opinion  ?  " 

I  felt  that  the  prince's  kind  advances  to  me  deserved  to 
be  met  with  all  sincerity,  and  so  I  stated  to  him  in  detail,  as 
well  as  I  could,  the  singular  position  in  which  I  fdund  myself 
placed  with  the  commerzienrath,  the  subterfuges,  equivoca- 
tions and  concealments  of  which  he  had  been  guilty  to  me ; 
that  I  believed  that  while  he  was  not  yet  the  ruined  man  his 
enemies  declared  him  to  be,  if  he  kept  on  in  this  way  he 
would  of  necessity  ruin  himself  sooner  or  later. 

The  prince  listened  to  me  attentively,  here  and  there  inte- 
posing  questions  which,  if  they  indicated  no  great  familiarity 
with  business,  showed  a  clear  understanding  and  rapid  com- 
prehension. We  had  come  back  to  the  original  point,  the 
sale  of  Zehrendorf,  and  had  already  agreed  upon  the  princi- 
pal conditions,  when  the  old  white-headed  servant,  whom  I 
had  already  seen  at  Rossow,  entered  and  standing  by  the 
door  gave  his  master  a  sign, 

"  Ah,"  said  the  prince,  "  is  it  already  so  late  ?  That  is 
unfortunate.  I  have  to  go  to  the  theatre  :  her  Royal  High- 
ness the  Princess,  my  patroness,  who  was  informed  of  my 
arrival,  has  sent  me  word  that  she  wishes  to  speak  with  me  a 
moment,  in  her  box,  and  learn  the  state  of  the  prince,  my 
father.  But  perhaps  we  can  combine  the  useful  with  the 
agreeable.  I  should  like  to  know  how  soon  I  can  command 
the  requisite  funds,  and  Henzel" — ^this  was  the  prince's 
banker— "will  be  at  the  theatre  also.      I  know  that  the 


638  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

great  Maecenas  of  all  singers  and  actors — actresses  and 
ballet-girls  not  forgotten — never  misses  a  first  representa- 
tion. I  shall  find  an  opportunity  to  speak  with  him.  The 
best  thing  would  be  for  you  to  come  too :  we  might  then  ar- 
range all  the  preliminaries  this  evening,  and  have  a  draft  of 
the  conveyance  made  to-morrow  morning  by  my  solicitor. 
Will  you  come  ?  " 

"  I  have  the  evening  at  my  disposal,"  I  said. 

"  A  proud  word  for  a  young  husband  !  "  said  the  prince, 
laughing.  "  But  why  not  bring  your  wife  along  ?  I  have 
long  desired  the  pleasure  of  making  her  acquaintance.  I 
could  not  do  it  at  Rossow,  for  I  had  pledged  myself  not  to 
go  more  than  a  mile  from  the  castle.  Well,  what;  do  you 
say .''  You  seem  to  hesitate  and  look  confused.  Sir,  those 
old  times  are  past :  you  need  never  more  feel  any  hesitation 
in  presenting  Prince  Prora  to  a  virtuous  lady  !  " 

"I  have  not  the  least  doubt  of  that,  your  highness,"  I  re- 
plied ;  "  but  my  wife — I  really  do  not  know " 

"  Ah,  indeed  !  "  said  the  prince.  "  I  understand.  Well, 
you  can  see.  Au  revoir,  then,  and  bring  your  lady  if 
possible." 

The  prince  gave  me  his  hand  as  we  parted.  I  had  neither 
said  yes  or  no,  because  I  did  not  wish  to  accept  his  sugges- 
tion, and  of  course  could  not  with  any  show  of  reason  de- 
cline it  off-hand. 

"  But  what  a  miserable  thing  it  is  when  a  man  does  not 
know  whether  to  say  yes  or  no,"  I  said  to  myself,  as  I  went 
through  the  darkening  streets  to  my  not  very  distant  lodging ; 
"  a  thing  to  which  I  am  not  yet  used,  and  must  not  learn  to 
be."  And  while  I  thus  sf)oke,  I  was  on  the  point  of  crossing 
the  street  to  a  corner  where  I  saw  by  the  light  of  a  street- 
lamp  a  play-bill  pasted  up,  but  I  checked  myself.  "  No,  no," 
I  muttered,  "  you  must  not  give  your  cowardice  a  respite ; 
for  cowardice  it  is,  and  nothing  else." 

So  I  reached  home,  where  Hermine  was  expecting  me 
with  impatience.  I  had  told  her  of  my  appointment  with 
the  prince,  but  not  of  its  object,  not  reflecting  that  this  con- 
cealment of  an  affair  which  was  about  to  be  decided  at  once, 
could  only  increase  her  secret  uneasiness.  I  perceived  this 
as  I  caught  her  eyes  bent  anxiously  upon  me.  Should  I  not 
now  tell  her  at  once  all  that  I  had  hitherto  so  carefully  con- 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


639 


cealed  from  her  ?  A  confusion  that  embarrassed  my  reason, 
and  a  fear  that  seemed  to  weigh  down  my  heart,  suddenly 
seized  me,  I  wished  to  free  myself  from  this  painful  embar- 
rassment, as  one  strives  to  escape  from  a  room  in  which  he 
feels  himself  suffocating ;  and  as  in  such  a  case  he  takes  the 
first  mode  of  escape  that  offers,  though  it  be  a  leap  through 
a  window,  I  said,  as  if  reciting  a  lesson  : 

**  The  prince  wishes  to  see  me  at  the  theatre ;  he  has  a 
communication  to  make  to  me  which  can  not  well  be  post- 
poned until  to-morrow.  He  expressed  the  wish  that  you 
would  accompany  me,  if  you  can.  He  has  been  very  kind 
to  me,  and  I  feel  myself  under  great  obligations  to  him.  I 
should  be  glad  to  show  him  an  attention,  if  you  have  no  ob- 
jection." 

"  Ah,  she  plays  to-night  then  !"  said  Hermine,  her  lips 
quivering  and  brows  contracting  darjcly. 

"  What  is  that  to  me — what  is  that  to  us,  Hermine  .?" 

I  opened  my  arms,  and  my  wife  lay  upon  my  breast.  The 
whole  long  pent-up  passion  burst  forth  at  once :  she  sobbed, 
she  laughed,  and  cried  :  "  Yes,  yes,  what  is  that  to  us  t  what 
is  that  to  us  ?" 

Her  sweet  face  that  lately  had  looked  so  pale  and  often  so 
sad,  now  beamed  with  life  and  happiness :  I  thought  I  had 
never  seen  her  so  beautiful. 

"  You  will  create  a  furore,"  I  said,  playfully. 

"  So  I  mean,"  she  answered.  "  There  is  no  art  in  being 
fair  when  one  is  so  happy." 

And  she  threw  herself  again  into  my  arms,  and  then  hast- 
ened into  her  dressing-room,  from  which  she  presently  re- 
turned in  a  simple  charming  toilet,  such  as  she  well  knew 
how  to  make. 

"  Do  you  think  I  can  let  the  prince  see  me  so  ? "  she  asked, 
archly.  , 

"  Yes ;  any  king  in  the  world  !  " 

"  Even  when ? " 

"  Even  when !  " 

The  distance  to  the  theatre  was  short,  yet  in  this  short 
drive  I  had  time  to  tell  her  everything  that  had  passed  be- 
tween the  prince  and  myself;  the  negotiations  about  Zehren- 
dorf,  and  the  causes  which  rendered  the  sale  necessary. 
And  the  fair  creature  agreed  contentedly  to  everything.     Ah, 


640  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  doctor  was  indeed  right  when  he  said  :  "  A  young  hus- 
band can  tell  his  young  wife  everything  ; "  but  I  was  also  right 
that  he  must  choose  a  fitting  opportunity. 

We  reached  the  theatre.  I'he  prince  had  told  me  that 
there  would  be  places  in  his  box  for  us,  and  it  was  well  that 
it  was  so,  for  the  house  was  full.  A  new  piece  was  played, 
the  work  of  a  young  poet  who  had  a  considerable  reputation 
at  that  time,  a  conversation-piece,  in  which  Constance  had 
no  part,  as  I  convinced  myself  by  a  glance  at  the  play-bill. 
It  was  not  yet  late,  but  pit  and  galleries  were  already  filled, 
and  the  boxes  were  filling  up.  The  prince  was  not  there  yet, 
and  only  appeared  towards  the  close  of  the  overture,  accom- 
panied by  an  officer  of  high  rank,  whom  he  presented  as  his 
cousin,  Count  Schlachtensee.  He  looked  exceedingly  hand- 
some and  distinguished  in  evening  dress,  with  a  blue  ribbon 
around  his  neck,  to  which  was  attached  the  star  of  some 
foreign  order  set  in  brilliants  ;  and  exhibited  the  most  per- 
fect and  engaging  courtesy  towards  Hermine,  to  whom  he 
apologized  for  his  late  arrival,  and  then  seated  himself  beside 
her,  conversing  very  pleasantly  for  a  few  moments,  until  he 
perceived  that  the  royal  princess  who  had  summoned  his  at- 
tendance, had  entered  her  box,  when  he  left  us. 

Lieutenant-colonel  Count  Schlachtensee,  when  his  cousin 
had  departed,  seemed  not  quite  to  know  what  to  do,  until  he 
hit  upon  the  happy  idea  of  offering  me  his  opera-glass,  which 
I  politely  declined.  So  he  applied  it  to  his  own  eyes,  fixing 
it  upon  a  box  opposite  to  us  so  long  that  I  involuntarily 
turned  my  own  looks  in  the  same  direction.  Directly  front- 
ing us  was  a  lady  who  at  the  moment  had  her  head  turned 
to  a  gentleman  sitting  behind  her,  but  in  whom  I  at  the  first 
glance  recognized  Constance.  I  do  not  know  what  effect 
this  discovery  would  have  had  upon  me,  had  I  not  just 
before  had  that  precious  understanding  with  Hermine  :  even 
as  it  was  my  heart  beat  violently  as  I  observed  that  my  wife 
also  turned  her  gla^s  in  that  direction  ;  but  I  breathed  freely, 
and  murmured  a  '"  thank  heaven  !  "  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart,  when  she  lowered  her  glass  again,  and  looked  at  me 
with  an  indescribable  arch  smile.  As  the  curtain  rose  she 
fixed  her  attention  upon  the  stage  without  ever  casting 
another  glance  at  the  woman  whose  form  had  no  doubt 
floated  lately  often  enough  through  her  melancholy  reveries. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  641 

Constance  on  the  other  hand  seemed  to  take  less  interest  in 
what  was  going  on  upon  the  stage.  I  observed  her  glass 
fixed  almost  constantly  upon  us  when  she  was  not  engaged 
in  conversation  with  her  companion,  who  had  now  taken  his 
seat  by  her  side,  and  in  whom  I  recogitized  the  actor  Von 
Sommer,  who  went  by  the  name  of  Lenz,  or  else  turned  to 
a  couple  of  younger  gentlemen,  in  elegant  dress  and  of  aris- 
tocratic, though  foreign  appearance — two  Wallachian  noble- 
men as  I  afterwards  learned — who  were  behind  her  chair, 
and  evidently  belonged  to  the  party.  It  was  plain  that  they 
were  talking  of  us,  and  in  no  friendly  manner  \  and  I  thought 
that  more  than  once  I  perceived  the  pale  face  of  Herr  Lenz 
contract  with  a  bitter  smile,  while  the  others,  who  kept  their 
glasses  steadily  levelled  at  us,  somecimes  laughed  openly. 

Whether  it  was  the  too  conspicuous  interest  which  the  beauti- 
ful actress  and  her  party  took  in  the  lady  in  the  opposite 
box,  or  whether  it  was  Hermine's  charming  appearance,  the 
public,  between  the  acts,  followed  the  example  set  them,  and 
their  unpleasant  curiosity  increased  still  further  when  the 
prince  returned  and  resumed  his  place  byllermine.  Per- 
sons stood  up  in  the  pit  to  see  better  :  they  looked  from 
Hermine  to  Constance  and  from  Constance  to  Hermine,  and 
evidently  instituted  very  interesting  comparisons  between  the 
two,  both  beautiful,  though  with  beauty  so  widely  different. 
No  doubt  the  prince  had  observed  Constance,  but  in  vain 
did  I  secretly  watch  his  face  for  any  mark  of  the  impression 
which  this  unexpected  and  unfortunate  meeting  must  have 
made  upon  him.  Not  in  vain  had  he  moved  from  his  early 
youth  in  circles  where  it  is  the  first  law  to  keep  the  features 
under  perfect  control.  He  laughed  and  jested  in  the  most 
natural  and  easy  manner  with  Hermine,  named  to  her  var- 
ious distinguished  persons  in  the  proscenium-boxes  whom 
he  knew,  turned  to  speak  with  his  cousin  and  myself,  and 
behaved  as  if  altogether  he  was  enjoying  himself  greatly. 

This  scene  was  repeated  in  the  second  entr'acte,  but  this 
time  a  chamberlain  of  the  princess  came  to  our  box,  charged 
by  her  to  learn  from  the  prince  the  name  of  the  lady  whose 
beauty  and  grace,  as  he  said,  had  charmed  her  highness. 

The  prince  told  us  this,  laughing,  as  the  stately  gentleman 
left  us,  and  said  it  was  not  unlikely  that  her  highness  might 
summon  us  to  her  box,  and  that  I  should  hold  mvself  in 


642  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

readiness  for  a  councillor's  title,  or  the  order  of  the  fourth 
class. 

I  confess  that  though  I  did  not  altogether  believe  this 
peril  so  imminent,  a  feeling  ever  more  strongly  impressed 
me  that  some  serious  disaster  was  close  at  hand,  as  if  float- 
ing in  the  hot  atmosphere  of  the  place.  I  also  thought  that 
I  perceived  that  the  heat,  animated  conversation,  and  the 
fact  that  she  was  the  object  of  general  observation,  had  too 
much  excited  Hermine,  so  after  exchanging  a  look  with  her, 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  third  act,  I  begged  to  take  leave  of 
the  prince,  especially  as  the  banker  Henzel  had  not  arrived, 
and  thus  nothing  could  be  done  in  the  matter  of  our  busi- 
ness. The  prince  rose  at  once  and  oflfered  Hermine  his  arm 
to  conduct  her  into  the  lobby,  into  which  a  great  crowd  was 
now  pressing  from  all  the  box-doors,  out  of  the  intolerably 
hot  theatre. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  crowding,  and  we  were  soon 
separated  from  the  prince,  who  had  taken  leave  of  Hermine 
at  the  moment  when  Constance  pressed  by  me  on  the  arm 
of  Herr  Lenz,  and  followed  by  the  two  Wallachians.  She 
saluted  me  in  a  manner  that  masked  a  stinging  mockery 
under  a  show  of  great  cordiality  :  but  the  pale  face  of  her 
companion  was  turned  towards  us  for  a  moment,  and  his  eyes, 
which  appeared  to  be  looking  for  some  one,  had  a  fixed  and 
ominous  expression.  He  pushed  on  through  the  crowd  as 
rapidly  as  he  could  with  the  lady,  towards  the  place  where  I 
had  last  seen  the  prince.  Other  persons  then  came  between 
us^  and  I  lost  sight  of  the  party  ;  Hermine,  who  was  busy 
taking  care  of  her  dress,  had  luckily  not  seen  Constance  \ 
and  she  now  asked  me  to  help  her  to  get  out  as  quickly  as 
possible.  We  had  descended  the  stair  a  few  steps,  when 
suddenly  there  was  a  tumult  behind  us  in  the  lobby.  Her- 
mine stood  still,  and  leaned  half-fainting  upon  my  arm  ;  and 
during  this  delay,  the  tumult  became  louder.  There  was  a 
buzz  of  many  voices  speaking  at  once,  and  then  loud  words, 
apparently  from  persons  in  authority  who  were  striving  to  re- 
store order.  A  gentleman  came  hurrying  past  me,  and  I 
stopped  him  :  I 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? " 

"  Prince  Prora  has  just  been  most  outrageously  insulted 
by  Lenz  the  actor  !  " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  643 

The  gentleman  hurried  on. 

I  looked  at  Hermine :  she  had  not  heard  it,  she  had 
fainted.  I  carried  her  down  the  stairs,  placed  her  in  a  car- 
riage and  drove  home,  where  she  arrived  in  a  rather  weak 
state,  but  otherwise  completely  restored.  I  must  not  be  un- 
easy about  her,  she  said  ;  and  she  had  had  a  delightful  even- 
ing, for  which  she  thanked  me  a  thousand  times.  And  now 
she  would  go  to  bed,  and  I  must  positively  go  back  to  the 
theatre,  that  the  prince  should  not  think  she  kept  me  tied  to 
her  apron-string. 

I  pretended  to  yield  to  her  wishes,  and  promised  to  go 
back.  But  in  reality  I  had  already  determined  to  do  this  if 
possible.  Suppose  it  were  true,  what  the  gentleman  on  the 
steps  had  told  me  !  and  how  could  I  doubt  it  ?  Then  the 
disaster  which  I  had  felt  impending  in  the  sultry  atmosphere 
of  the  theatre,  had  come  to  pass.  I  remembered  the  scene 
in  the  2^hrendorf  wood,  so  many  years  before,  and  how  the 
boy  preferred  to  die,  to  receiving  a  blow  from  my  hands, 
of  which  there  would  have  been  no  witness  but  the  moon. 
Would  the  man  feel  differently  ?  Would  he  not  risk  every- 
thing to  avenge  an  insult  offered  him,  the  Prince  of  Prora, 
before  the  eyes  of  a  crowd  of  spectators  ? 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

BUT  I  scarcely  had  quitted  my  house  when  I  reflected 
that  after  what  had  happened,  it  was  scarcely  possible 
that  the  prince  could  still  be  in  the  theatre,  and  I  turned 
my  steps  towards  his  palace.  It  was  about  nine  o'clock ; 
the  evening  was  cold  and  raw,  though  we  were  at  the  begin- 
ning of  March ;  the  snow  was  blowing  about  in  the  wind 
and  eddying  around  corners;  pedestrians  were  hurrying 
along  with  pulled-up  collars  and  bent  heads ;  and  I  could 
not  help  remembering  the  evening  a  year  before,  when  I  saw 
the  unhappy  girl  in  the  yellow  light  of  the  lamps  at  the  door  of 
the  palace,  which  I  now  reached  all  out  of  breath.  For  the 
revenge  which  had  then  blazed  in  her  dark  eyes  and  breathed 


644 


Ilamnicr  and  Anvil. 


from  her  mouth,  the  revenge  to  which  she  had  in  vain  en- 
deavored to  entice  me,  for  this  sweet,  this  terrible  revenge 
she  had  found  the  right  man  at  last. 

I  was  possessed  with  the  feeling  that  all  this  had  to  come 
so  ;  that  a  destiny  long-appointed,  which  neither  I  nor  any 
one  could  baffle,  had  now  reached  its  accomplishment.  I 
asked  myself — What  brings  me  here  ?  What  do  I  mean  to 
do  ?  I  could  find  no  answer  to  this  question  ;  not  even  when 
I  stood  in  the  ante-chamber  and  besought  the  old  servant, 
who  had  been  called,  to  lead  me  at  once  to  his  master. 

"  I  can  admit  no  one,"  the  old  man  replied. 

He  seemed  greatly  agitated,  his  voice  trembled  as  he  spoke, 
and  his  withered  hand,  which  he  raised  as  if  to  keep  me  off, 
trembled  visibly. 

At  this  moment  the  door  leading  to  the  room  in  which  the 
prince  had  received  me  in  the  afternoon  opened,  and  Count 
Schlachtensee  came  out  and  passed  us  with  the  same  fixed 
look  I  had  observed  on  him  in  the  theatre.  Evidently  it  was 
not  pretence  ;  he  really  did  not  see  me.  So  what  I  had 
feared,  was  now  rushing  down.  I  could  not  restrain  myself 
longer,  and  regardless  of  the  old  servant,  rushed  through  the 
door  through  which  the  count  had  come,  traversed  a  second 
large  ante-chamber  towards  the  inner  room,  through  the 
open  door  of  which  I  saw  the  prince  sitting  at  a  writing 
table. 

"  This  to  Herr  Hartwig  at  once  !  "  he  said,  holding  out 
to  me  a  letter  in  his  left  hand,  while  he  leaned  his  head  on 
his  right. 

"  I  am  he,"  I  said,  taking  the  letter,  and  holding  his  hand 
firmly  in  mine. 

His  hand  was  cold,  and  the  face  which  he  now  turned  to 
me  was  pale  as  death  ;  only  on  the  right  cheek  glowed  a  crim- 
son spot,  as  if  branded  there. 

"  You  here  ?  "  he  asked,  in  surprise.  "  That  is  very  well ; 
now  I  can  tell  you  what  is  in  the  letter,  which  I  will  ask  you 
to  take  care  of  It  is  a  written  memorandum  of  our  agree- 
ment to-day,  with  the  addition  of  a  request  to  the  prince,  my 
father,  to  carry  out  this  agreement,  whatever  happens." 

I  still  held  his  hand,  and  endeavored  in  vain  to  speak  a 
word.  If  I  had  needed  any  explanation  of  the  irresistible 
sympathy  with  which  this  man  inspired  me,  I  had  it  now  in 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  645 

my  very  hands.  And  this  man  must  be  the  sacrifice  of  a 
base  piece  of  treachery !  This  man,  who  through  all  tempta- 
tions had  preserved  so  pure  his  native  generosity  and  kind- 
ness of  heart,  must  be  entangled  in  the  snare  which  his  rash 
youthful  foot  had  touched  years  before  ! 

This,  or  something  like  this,  was  what  I  said  to  him  when 
I  found  words  at  last,  and  I  added  that  I  could  not  endure 
the  thought,  and  eagerly  asked  if  there  were  no  possible  way 
— none — to  escape  from  the  toils  ? 

"  Sit  down,"  said  the  prince,  bringing  me  to  the  fireplace 
in  which  a  comfortable  fire  was  burning,  offering  me  an  easy 
chair  and  taking  another  himself  "  Did  I  not  say  that  you 
were  an  original  ?  For  none  but  a  man  who  has  preserved 
to  his  thirtieth  year  a  considerable  share  of  the  innocent 
philosophy  of  his  childhood,  could  hit  upon  the  idea  of  ask- 
ing a  prince  of  Prora  if  it  is  not  still  possible  to  carry 
patiently  through  his  whole  life  an  insult  offered  him  before 
a  score  of  witnesses." 

He  said  this  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  and  with  an  at- 
tempt to  smile,  but  his  pale  lips  quivered  and  the  spot  on 
his  cheek  glowed  a  deeper  red. 

"  I  am  no  child,"  I  said  ;  "  but  it  may  well  be  that  a  man 
who  has  lived  so  solitary  a  life  as  mine,  is  an  incompetent 
judge  of  the  customs  and  principles  that  rule  the  great 
world.  I  only  know  that  in  my  heart  a  voice  cries :  this 
must  not  be !  Must  it  be  then  t  Are  those  laws  which  I 
confess  I  do  not  understand,  as  inflexible  as  fate  ?" 

"Yes  ;  it  must  be,"  the  prince  replied.  "  I  also  have  con- 
sidered it — not  for  my  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  those  to 
whom  I  would  gladly  have  been  something — but  it  must 
be." 

"  And  your  rank ?"  I  began. 

"  Does  not  excuse  me,"  he  answered,  with  a  smile  like 
that  of  a  teacher  who  dissipates  the  crude  and  futile  objec- 
tions of  a  pupil,  "  I  am  not  a  sovereign  prince,  though  my 
ancestors  were  sovereigns.  I  am  a  nobleman  like  other  no- 
blemen, and  subject  to  the  same  laws.  My  antagonist  is 
noble  too :  the  house  of  Sommer-Brachenfeld,  of  which  he 
comes  by  direct  descent,  is  an  ancient  race,  nearly  as  ancient 
as  my  own." 

"  But  a  notorious  profligate,  a  miserable  adventurer  like 


646 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


this  man — has  he  not  dispossessed  himself  of  the  right  of 
being  challenged  to  the  field  by  a  prince  Prora  ?" 

"  I  fancy  not,"  the  prince  replied,  still  with  the  same  good- 
natured  smile.  "  The  man  is  an  adventurer,  it  is  true  j  but 
I  saw  in  Ireland  a  fellow  who  descended  from  the  legitimate 
kings  of  the  green  isle  of  Erin,  and  who  was  a  keeper  of 
hogs  ;  and  in  Paris,  in  a  cafh  chantant,  I  saw  the  genuine 
scion  of  an  ancient  ducal  house,  who  was  singing  indecent 
songs  to  the  guitar  before  an  audience  of  men  in  blouses  and 
women  of  the  streets.  Now  an  actor  at  a  Royal  Theatre  is 
quite  a  respectable  person.  And  again,  have  I  been  no 
profligate  in  my  time  ?  And  can  I  know  what  would  have 
become  of  me  if  the  family  council  had  really  cut  me  off 
from  the  succession,  and  thrust  me  out  into  the  world  with 
an  indemnity  in  money  .''  However  large  the  sum  might  have 
been,  it  would  not  have  lasted  long,  and  then — no,  no,  I  have 
no  right  on  this  ground,  not  even  an  excuse,  to  avoid  a 
duel,  supposing  that  I  looked  for  an  excuse  ;  but  I  look  for 
none." 

We  both  remained  silent.  Without,  the  winter  wind  swept 
through  the  streets  and  howled  and  whistled  around  the  pal- 
ace, like  a  hungry  wolf  around  the  fold  ;  and  here  in  the 
room  the  light  beamed  so  soft  from  the  lamps  upon  the  mar- 
ble tables,  over  the  splendid  furniture,  on  the  hearth  the  fire 
glowed  and  sparkled  so  cosily,  and  surrounded  by  all  the 
splendor,  and  illuminated  by  the  soft  light,  at  the  fire  upon 
his  own  hearth,  sat  the  master  of  this  house,  who  did  not 
even  look  for  an  excuse  to  avoid  a  duel  with  an  adventurer 
who  had  nothing  at  risk  but  his  own  bare  life. 

"  I  look  for  none,"  said  the  prince  again.  "  Indeed  I 
believe  that  though  there  were  the  most  indisputable  justifi- 
cation of  such  a  course,  I  should  decline  to  avail  myself  of 
it.  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  live  in  the  consciousness  that  such  an  insult  is  unavenged 
— as  impossible  as  for  me  to  live  by  picking  pockets — but  I 
have  a  feeling  which  I  cannot  shake  off  that  this  is  a  doom 
which  has  fallen  upon  me,  against  which  all  resistance  is  un- 
availing." 

He  raised  his  eyes  as  he  said  this,  and  his  look  fell  upon 
the  portrait  of  the  young  cavalier  in  the  fantastic  costume, 
which  he  had  told  me  represented  his  father,  and  which  hung 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  647 

at  some  distance  from  us,  brilliantly  illuminated  by  the  light 

of  a  large  lamp. 

"  Altogether  unavailing,"  he  repeated,  with  a  deep  sigh, 
turning  his  face  from  the  portrait  to  the  flame  on  the  hearth, 
upon  which  his  eyes  remained  vacantly  fixed,  while  his  pale 
lips  moved  as  if  uttering  words  which  I  could  fancy  I  heard, 
though  they  were  unspoken  :  "  altogether  unavailing.!  " 

This  was  the  same  fatal  presentiment  that  had  laid  its 
spell  upon  me  from  the  first.  The  events  that  had  just  now 
taken  place,  had  been  prepared  long,  long  ago  ;  they  had 
stood  already  written  in  the  stars  that  glittered  on  that 
autumn  night  when  the  young  prince  stole  through  the  park 
of  Zehrendoff  to  his  love.  I  sat  there,  my  fevered  brow 
resting  on  my  hand,  and  thought  of  that  night,  and  how  I 
was  summoned  to  guard  her  who  did  not  wish  to  be  guarded, 
who  even  then  was  planning  and  weaving  the  web  of  treach- 
ery, and  was  even  then  a  wanton,  who,  if  I  could  believe  what 
the  good  Hans  told  me,  had  been  in  this  case  the  betrayer 
and  not  the  betrayed,  and  who  yet  like  a  vengeful  fury  pur- 
sued the  man  who  was  guilty  of  no  wrong  towards  her, 
except  that  of  being  her  first  lover,  if  he  was  the  first. 

I  must  have  spoken  aloud  some  part  of  the  thoughts  that 
were  passing  through  my  mind  while  the  prince  was  walking 
up  and  down  the  room,  and  at  last  stopped  beside  me  and 
laid  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder: 

"  True  heart,"  he  said,  "  how  true  you  are,  and  how  you 
increase  the  debt  which  I  have  never  yet  paid  you,  and  which 
I  would  so  gladly  pay  before  it  is  too  late.  Perhaps  it  will 
be  something  if  I  do  for  you  what  I  would  do  for  none  other  : 
if  I  try  to  justify  myself  to  you  for  the  part  I  have  played  in 
this  unfortunate  affair.  Perhaps  too  I  owe  it  to  her  ;  and  I 
would  fain  settle  all  my  debts  :  I  would  wish  that  one  man 
lived  who  will  know,  if  Prince  Carl  von  Prora  falls,  how  and 
why  it  was  that  he  died." 

He  checked  me  with  a  gesture  as  I  was  about  to  speak, 
and  proceeded,  his  soft  beautiful  eyes  fixed  upon  the  fire 
which  was  now  dying  out  on  the  hearth : 

"  You  think  that  Constance  never  loved,  neither  me  nor 
any  other  ;  that  it  was  not  in  her  nature  to  love,  and  that 
therefore  no  one  could  be  a  traitor  to  her.  In  this  way  you 
attempt  to  justify  me  ;  but  you  are  wrong.     Constance  really 


648  Hammer  and  Am'il. 

loved  me,  and  still  I  did  not  betray  her.  Whether  I  loved 
her  or  not  is  another  question,  which  I  cannot  affirm — which 
I  would  not  for  much  be  able  to  affirm.  I  was  very  young 
when  I  first  saw  her  at  that  unlucky  watering-place  ;  scarcely 
more  than  a  boy ;  and  I  may  have  loved  her  as  boys  love, 
romantically,  passionately,  and  yet  not  deeply.  I  know  I 
behaved  like  a  madman  when  my  father  came  and  said  that 
I  could  never  marry  the  daughter  of  a  professional  gamester 
and  notorious  smuggler,  especially  when  the  girl  was  not  even 
the  legitimate  child  of  this  dishonored  father.  But  this  you 
know  :  I  told  you  all  this  \  and  this  was  all  the  prince  then 
told  me.  But  this  was  not  all  that  he  might  and  should  have 
told  me.  And  his  telling  me  but  half  the  truth  while  he  con- 
cealed that  which  was  of  most  importance,  out  of  what  I  must 
call  false  shame  of  appearing  to  his  son  in  the  light  of  an 
evil  example,  and  out  of  prudery  to  the  world  which  had 
long  known  him  as  a  pious  man  and  jDrotector  of  the  church, 
this  is  the  evil  seed  from  which  has  sprung  this  disaster  for 
me  and  for  himself 

"  I  cannot  say  that  the  prince's  warning  was  altogether 
fruitless,  nor  can  I  say  that  I  was  convinced  by  it.  I  was  a 
boy,  a  wild  spoiled  boy,  accustomed  to  having  my  own  will 
because  it  was  my  will — my  own  will  often  against  my  will. 
So  was  it  here.  The  prince,  convinced  of  my  obedience, 
committed  the  imprudence  of  sending  me,  accompanied  by 
my-  tutor,  to  Rossow,  to  hunt  there,  to  recover  my  injured 
health,  and  to  pay  court  to  the  fair  Countess  Griebenow, 
who  was  allotted  to  me  by  common  consent  of  both  families. 
How  easy  it  is  for  a  youth  with  monej'^  enough  in  his  pocket, 
to  bribe  his  servants,  I  need  not  say.  I  spent  the  morning 
at  Griebenow,  and  the  evening — ^>'ou  know  where.  But  you 
do  not  know,  and  probably  would  not  believe  upon  any  other 
authority,  that  my  courtship  was  carried  on  in  very  nearly 
the  same  style  and  tone  in  both  places.  I  repeat  it,  I  was 
young,  very  young,  and  youthful  modesty  and  a  certain  chiv- 
alrous sense  of  honor,  which  is  perhaps  native  to  me,  always 
restrained  me,  even  in  the  secrecy  of  Constance's  apartment. 
Whether  it  was  female  modesty,  or  calculation — probably 
both  ;  for  I  have  rarely  found  women  in  which  both  were  • 
not  present  together — she  always  knew  how  to  keep  me  in 
limits,  and  scarcely  at  rare  intervals  allowed  me  to  kiss  her 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  649 

hand.  She  maintained  this  rigor  so  firmly  that  I  was  more 
than  once  convinced  she  loved  some  other  ;  and  you  can  con- 
ceive whom  I  believed  this  other  to  be.  Thus  the  play  went 
on  which  had  very  nearly  been  brought  to  a  sudden  end  by 
our  meeting  in  the  wood,  and  on  the  very  day  following  I 
succeeded  in  realizing  a  long-concerted  scheme,  and  carry- 
ing off  my  beloved.  I  had  made  her  no  promises,  but  she 
asked  none,  and  no  doubt  thought  all  would  come  right  if 
she  played  her  part  well.  And  she  played  it  just  as  before  ; 
and  while  we  were  looked  upon  by  all  the  world  as  a  pair  of 
unlawful  lovers,  and  were  pursued  in  all  directions  by  my 
father's  letters  and  couriers,  I  had  received  no  favor  from 
her  beyond  the  privilege  of  kissing  her  hand. 

"  I  had  made  my  preparations  so  skilfully  that  I  escaped 
all  the  prince's  researches,  though  he  moved  heaven  and 
earth  to  find  the  fugitives.  He  would  have  started  in  pursuit 
himself,  no  doubt,  only  his  alarm  at  what  had  happened, 
brought  on  a  violent  attack  of  his  old  gout.  And  well  had 
he  cause  to  be  alarmed." 

The  prince  suddenly  arose  from  his  chair,  and  walked 
once  or  twice  across  the  room,  stopping  again  before  the 
portrait  of  his  father,  at  which  he  looked  with  a  darkened 
countenance.     He  then  resumed  his  seat,  and  proceeded : 

"  I  had  already  got  as  far  as  Munich,  when  the  old  servant 
whom  you  have  seen  overtook  us.  He  was  the  bearer  of  a 
letter  in  cipher,  in  which  there  was  important  information 
from  various  members  of  my  family,  and  a  few  lines  in  my 
father's  own  hand,  upon  reading  which  I  had  laughed  aloud. 
They  ran  :  '  I  adjure  you  by  all  that  you  hold  sacred,  to 
part  from  her  at  once  if  you  do  not  wish  to  load  yourself 
with  a  horrible  crime:  Constance  von  Zehren  is  your  sis- 
ter.' "  ^ 

"  Great  heavens  !  "  I  cried. 

"  As  I  said,"  continued  the  prince,  "  I  laughed ;  laughed 
madly  at  the  thought,  and  then  felt  a  shudder  run  over  my 
whole  body  and  seem  to  settle  in  my  heart. 

"  The  letter  referred  me  to  the  old  servant  for  further  par- 
ticulars, until  the  prince  was  in  a  condition  to  write  me  more 
fully.  ^  He,  who  from  his  youth  had  been  attached  to  the 
prince's  person,  and  had  accon^^nied  him  upon  all  his 
travels,  was  better  able  than  any  other  to  explain  the  matter. 
28 


650 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


He  had  been  with  the  prince  in  Paris  at  the  time  when  Herr 
von  Zehren  arrived  there  in  his  wild  flight  from  Spain  with 
his  beloved.  The  two  gentlemen  had  been  very  intimate 
friends,  and  at  our  court  the  two  handsome  stately  young 
men  went  by  the  names  of  Orestes  and  Pylades.  But  it 
seems  that  this  friendship  was  much  shaken  when  the  prince 
married  my  mother,  whom  Herr  von  Zehren  had  also  courted. 
Whether  the  prince  could  never  forgive  his  friend  this  rivalry, 
or  whether  Herr  von  Zehren,  who  was  a  man  of  fierce  and 
uncontrolled  passions,  gave  the  prince  afterwards  any  cause 
of  offence — I  do  not  know  :  but  it  appears  that  the  prince 
was  not  only  fascinated  by  the  charms  of  the  young  Spanish 
lady,  who  tormented  by  her  conscience,  and  perhaps  as  weak- 
minded  as  she  was  beautiful,  bestowed  upon  her  lover's 
friend  a  confidence  which  he  abused,  and  perhaps  also  a  love 
which  he  only  did  not  refuse. 

"  Was  the  prince  the  father  of  the  child  which  passed  for 
Herr  von  Zehren's  ?  It  could  not  be  certainly  known  ;  and 
the  doubts  which  the  prince  himself  had  on  this  point  might 
never  have  been  removed  ;  for  when  a  few  years  later  the 
unfortunate  woman  came  to  Rossow,  where  the  prince  was 
then  staying,  and  threw  herself,  with  dishevelled  hair  at  his 
feet,  crying  that  he  was  the  father  of  her  child,  imploring  him 
to  protect  her  and  her  child  from  their  pursuer,  and  to  tell  her 
the  way  to  Spain — at  this  time  she  was  a  mere  maniac.  But 
there  were  other  confirmatory  circumstances.  An  old  female 
servant — the  same  horrible  old  woman  who  was  with  Con- 
stance later,  and  whom  you  probably  knew — declared  that 
her  young  mistress  had  told  her  the  secret  from  the  first. 
She  may  have  lied ;  but  nature  rarely  deceives,  and  the 
prince  found  in  the  child,  which  he  contrived  to  see  privately, 
a  likeness  of  which  perhaps  a  trace  may  still  be  discovered 
in  that  picture  yonder," 

The  prince  pointed  with  trembling  hand  to  the  portrait 
of  his  father  ;  but  he  only  told  me  what  I  had  discovered 
for  myself  while  he  was  telling  me  this  frightful  story.  He 
must  have  read  in  my  looks  what  I  did  not  venture  to  ex- 
press, for  he  continued,  fixing  his  beautiful  melancholy  eyes 
upon  me : 

"You  see  it  too,  do  you  not?  We  easily  discover  the 
truth  when  it  is  pointed  out  to  us  ;  and  I  perceived  it  while 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  651 

the  old  woman  was  making  her  terrible  confession,  and  I 
blessed  a  merciful  heaven  that  had  saved  me  from  an  awful 
crime.     But  how  to  free  myself  from  this  wretched  entangle- 
ment ?     Perhaps  I  should  have  disobeyed  the  prince's  orders 
and  told  Constance  the  whole  truth ;  but  I  cannot  too  often 
repeat  that  I  was  very  young,  and  not  in  a  condition  to  judge 
what  might  be  all  the  consequences  of  my  hasty  resolution. 
So  I  thought  I  should  be  managing  with  great  adroitness  if 
I  could  continue  to  inspire  Constance  with  hate  of  me,  or  at 
least  aversion,  for  the  love  that  I  now  regarded  with  horror. 
The  means  of  attaining  this  end  she  had  herself  supplied  me 
in  her  arts  of  keeping  me  at  a  distance,  in  which  I  now  was 
disposed  to  see  more  than  mere  calculation.     I  returned  her 
caprice  with  caprice,  her  obstinacy  with  obstinacy,  her  cold- 
ness with  coldness  ;  I  played  my  game  so  well  that  I  could 
not  fail  to  win.     What  she  suffered,  I  never  heard  her  say ; 
but  I  saw  it  in  her  face  which  grew  paler  day  by  day,  in  her 
eyes  in  which  there  often  seemed  to  be  the  fire  of  madness. 
"At  last  came  the  catastrophe.      After  a  violent  scene, 
which  I  had  provoked,  in  Naples,  whither  we  had  come  on 
our  travels — I  do  not  now  know  why  or  how — I  parted  from 
her,  in  the  firm  conviction  that  she  would  emplo)'  the  ample 
means  I  had  left  at  her  disposal,  either  in  returning,  or  in 
the  flight  with  which  she  had  often  threatened  me.     But  this 
would  have  been  insufficient  for  the  revenge  which  she  con- 
ceived such  treachery  as  mine  deserved.     She,  whom  I  had 
held  to  be  the  proudest  of  the  proud,  who  refiised  to  belong 
to  the  Prince  of  Prora  unless  he  made  her  his  wife — she  cast 
herself  into  the  arms  of  the  first  comer,  a  wretched  coxcomb 
whose  acquaintance  we  had  made  by  the  way.     I  shudder 
when  I  think  what  this  first  step  must  have  cost  the  unhappy 
girl ;  but  I  shudder  still  more  when  I  think  how  little  all 
subsequent  stqps  have  cost  her." 

He  sighed  deeply,  and  his  sigh  awakened  a  terrible  echo 
m  my  own  breast.  I  sprang  up  and  took  a  stride  towards  the 
door. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?"  asked  the  prince. 
I  grasped  my  temples  with  both  hands ;  my  brain  seemed 
on  fire. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  I  said,  "  I  only  know  that  this  duel 
must  not  take  place." 


6s2 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


The  prince  smiled  and  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  It  is  a  queer  business,  altogether,"  he  said, 

"  And  is  there  no  remedy — none  ?"  I  cried. 

"  Not  that  I  know  of,"  the  prince  answered  with  the  same 
kindly  melancholy  smile.  "  The  young  man  would  have  to 
declare  that  he  was  out  of  his  senses.  And  that  would  not 
help  ;  for  any  one  who  declares  his  own  insanity  is  not  insane 
— ah,  there  you  are,  dear  Edmund  !" 

I  had  not  seen  that  Count  Schlachtensee  had  entered  the 
room  behind  me.  The  prince  advanced  to  meet  him,  and 
took   his   hand  :  the   count   said  "  I  come — 


and  then 

checked  himself  and  fixed  a  surprised  look  on  me  whom  he 
now  observed  for  the  first  time. 

"  I  must  now  take  leave  of  you,"  said  the  prince.  "  1 
thank  you  heartily  for  your  visit — heartily,"  and  he  grasped 
my  hand  firmly  in  his  own  which  was  small  and  delicate  as 
a  woman's.     "  Farewell !" 

I  was  at  the  door  when  he  followed  me  and  gave  me  his 
hand  again.  "  Farewell,"  he  said  once  more,  and  added  in 
a  low  tone,  "  perhaps  for  ever !" 

I  stood  in  the  street,  with  the  snow  driving  into  my  face. 
I  turned  back  to  look  at  the  palace,  and  saw  upon  the  low- 
ered curtain  the  shadows  of  two  men  who  were  pacing  up 
arid  down  the  room.  They  were  the  prince  and  his  cousin  ; 
and  I  knew  what  they  were  conversing  about,  and  that  there 
was  not  a  moment  to  be  lost.  I  called  a  hackney-coach  that 
was  passing,  and  ordered  the  coachman  to  drive  as  quickly 
as  possible  to  the  lodging  of  the  actor  Von  Sommer,  who 
went  by  the  name  of  Lenz. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

I  HAVE  often  in  later  days  tried  to  recall  the  state  of 
mind   in  which   I  was  on   this   miserable   night :   but 
have  never  been  able  perfectly  to  do  so.     So  I  am  con- 
scious than  any  account  I  can  now  give  of  it  must  be  a  most 
imperfect  one.     I  can  only  say  that  I  was  overpowered  by 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  653 

an  emotion  which  was  probably  the  intensest  form  of  pity — 
a  feeling  always  peculiarly  strong  with  me,  and  which  on  far 
lighter  occasions  is  aroused  in  my  breast  to  an  extent  which 
must  appear  absurd  and  childish  to  shrewder  and  more  cold- 
blooded persons.  Perhaps  the  extraordinary  statements 
which  I  had  just  heard  might  have  affected  me  differently, 
had  the  persons  concerned  been  entire  strangers  to  me  ;  but 
this  they  were  not.  Constance  had  played  an  important  and 
fateful  part  already  in  my  life  ;  the  young  prince  had  come 
into  contact  with  me  at  eventful  moments  ;  and  I  had  loved 
Constance,  and  the  prince  had  inspired  me  with  interest  and 
sympathy  such  as  an  older  brother  might  feel  for  a  younger. 
What  had  happened  appeared  to  me  awful,  and  what  was  to 
happen,  terrible.  True  I  had  again  a  dim  consciousness 
that  I  could  do  nothing  to  hinder  the  march  of  fate,  that  I 
had  started  opon  an  idle,  an  insane  expedition ;  but  what 
was  this  to  the  voice  that  cried  within :  It  must  not  be  !  it 
must  not  be ! 

In  this  intense  excitement  which  now  seems  to  me  to  have 
bordered  on  insanity,  I  reached  the  lodgings  of  the  actor. 
He  was  greatly  surprised  at  seeing  me,  but  received  me  with 
politeness,  and  conducted  me  from  the  room  in  which  I  found 
him  with  one  of  his  companions  at  the  theatre,  into  another 
apartment  to  hear  what  I  had  to  say. 

But  what  had  I  to  say  ?  Good  heavens,  there  was  so 
much  to  be  said,  or  else  so  little  !  The  much  I  could  not 
tell  him,  for  I  felt  that  I  had  no  right  to  disclose  the  secret, 
and  that  if  I  had  revealed  it,  he  would  have  considered  it  a 
wretched  device  suggested  by  the  prince's  cowardice.  And 
the  little — that  the  duel  must  not  take  place — what  good 
could  that  do?  What  could  the  man  do  but  shrug  his 
shoulders  and  look  sharply  into  my  eyes  to  see  if  I  was  quite 
in  my  senses  ?  .  He  was  a  young  man  with  a  face  wasted  by 
a  life  of  dissipation,  and  yet  handsome,  and  with  very  expres- 
sive large  dark  eyes,  and  I  felt  how  my  cheeks  flushed  under 
their  steady  gaze.  Under  their  gaze,  and  at  the  words 
which  almost  forced  their  way  through  my  lips,  the  words 
that  if  he  desired  vengeance  on  Constance's  lover — one 
who  had  been  her  lover  at  a  time  when  he  claimed  her  as  his 
own — he  should  select  the  right  man — he  should  come  to 
me  rather  than  the  prince.     And  though  I  bit  my  lips  to 


654  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

restrain  myself  from  saying  this,  the  words  forced  their  way 
through  my  teeth  in  a  hoarse  hissing  tone,  which  the  other 
probably  took  for  the  accents  of  rage  that  could  scarcely  be 
controlled. 

"  That  is  your  business  then,"  he  said,  rising  from  his 
chair.  "  A  favored  or  a  betrayed  lover,  I  do  not  know 
which.  Very  well :  I  shall  meet  you,  sir,  you  may  rely  upon 
it ;  and  every  one  who  has  or  pretends  to  have  any  claim 
upon  the  lady's  favor.  But  each  in  his  turn,  sir,  each  in  his 
turn  ;  you  have  come  some  hours  too  late  ;  and  you  will  per- 
ceive that  I  can  settle  with  my  antagonists  only  in  the  order 
in  which  they  present  themselves.  Is  there  any  other  way 
in  which  I  can  serve  you  ?  " 

He  made  me  a  polite  bow,  as  he  finished,  and  added : 
"  Through  this  door  " — indicating  by  a  gesture — "  you  can 
pass  at  once  into  the  hall."  . 

I  had  also  arisen  and  stood  facing  him.  I  could  have 
stricken  this  slender  delicate  man,  feeble  and  nerveless  from 
a  life  of  dissipation,  to  the  earth  with  a  single  blow ;  the 
puny  arm  which  he  extended  towards  the  door  with  a  theat- 
rical gesture  as  I  hesitated,  I  could  have  crushed  in  my 
hand.  It  was  the  only  time  in  my  life  that  I  was  ever 
tempted  to  abuse  my  physical  strength  ;  but  I  withstood  the 
temptation,  and  forced  myself  out  of  the  room  and  out  of  the 
house. 

The  coach  was  still  standing  at  the  door. 

"  Where  am  I  to  drive  now  ?  "  asked  the  man. 

I  directed  him  to  Constance's  lodging,  and  we  drove  off. 
It  was  bitter  cold,  and  the  glass  of  the  coach-window  was 
encrusted  with  sleet,  the  crystals  of  which  sparkled  and  glit- 
tered in  the  light  of  the  street-lamps  as  we  passed  them.  I 
noticed  it,  and  mechanically  counted  the  seconds  that  elapsed 
until  we  passed  another  lamp,  when  I  again  observed  the 
sparkling  and  glittering,  and  recalled  to  mind  certain  optical 
laws  which  seemed  to  bear  upon  this  phenomenon,  as  if  I 
had  nothing  else  in  the  world  to  do  on  my  way  to  see  Con- 
stance von  Zehren,  Prince  Prora's  sister. 

The  coach  stopped.  I 

Notwithstanding  the  lateness  of  the  hour — ^it  was  now 
probably  eleven  o'clock — the  door  was  opened  at  once  ;  the 
hall  and  stairway  were  lighted  up  :  they  seemed  in  this  house 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  655 

to  be  accustomed  to  late  arrivals  and  departures.  As  I  rang 
at  the  door  upon  which  stood,  in  great  golden  letters,  "  Ada 
Bellini,  Actress  at  the  Theatre  Royal,"  I  heard  the  rustling 
of  a  dress  inside,  and  the  next  moment  Constance  stood  be- 
fore me.  She  had  doubtless  expected  a  different  visitor,  and 
started  back  with  a  cry.  I  closed  the  door,  caught  her  by 
the  hand  as,  with  a  face  white  with  terror,  she  endeavored* 
to  escape,  and  said : 

"  I  must  speak  with  you,  Constance. " 

"  You  want  to  murder  me  !  "  she  said. 

"No  ;  but  I  intend  to  prevent  another  being  murdered  on 
your  account.     Come  !  " 

I  drew  her,  half  by  force,  into  the  brightly  lighted,  almost 
gorgeous  parlor  which  she  had  just  left,  leaving  the  door 
open  after  her,  and  led  her  to  a  chair  in  which  she  took  her 
seat,  her  eyes  uneasily  watching  all  my  movements. 

"  Have  no  fear,"  I  said.  "  Do  not  be  in  the' least  alarmed. 
Once  in  long-past  days  you  called  me  your  faithful  George, 
who  was  to  kill  all  the  dragons  lurking  in  your  path.  Hith- 
erto I  have  had  no  opportunity  ;  or  did  not  use  it  if  I  had. 
The  hour  is  now  come ;  but  I  cannot  do  it  alone :  you  must 
help  me  and  will  help  me." 

"  Are  you  assured  of  that  ? "  she  asked. 

Her  face  had  suddenly  assumed  another  expression  ;  the 
terror  which  had  been  previously  imprinted  upon  it,  had 
vanished  and  made  way  for  a  look  of  dark  hatred,  the  same 
look  that  it  wore  that  night  when  she  adjured  me  to  avenge 
her  on  the  prince. 

I  do  not  know  how  I  found  the  words,  but  I  said  what  I 
had  come  to  say. 

"  What  does  the  prince  pay  you  for  it  ?  " 

This  question  was  her  reply. 

It  was  the  same  reply  that  I  had  expected  from  the  actor, 
and  it  was  not  to  hear  this  that  I  had  held  my  tongue  before 
him.  Here  it  was  different :  it  was  the  sister  to  whom  I  was 
speaking  :  she  must  believe  me  :  I  must  find  the  place  in  her 
heart :  nature  could  not  so  belie  herself. 

And  whether  it  was  that  I  succeeded  in  touching  the  mys- 
terious bond  that  unites  two  beings  whose  veins  flow  with 
the  same  blood  ;  whether  it  was  that  Constance's  clear  intel- 
ligence could  not  reject  the  proof  that  I  offered,  I  saw  that 


6s6 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


the  dark  look  passed  away  from  her  face,  and  gave  way  to  a 
confusion,  an  astonishment,  that  passed  into  actual  horror. 

"  It  was  that,  then  !  "  she  murmured  ;  "  that  was  the  rea- 
son !  And  that  then  was  the  reason  that  I  hated  my  father 
— no,  he  was  not  my  father — and  that  he  hated  me  I  That 
— but  then  she  must  have  known  it !  no,  no,  it  cannot  be  !  " 

She  had  sprung  from  her  chair. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ? "  I  asked,  seizing  her  hand. 

She  tore  herself  loose  and  rushed  from  the  room. 

I  remained,  hesitating  what  to  do  ;  I  feared  for  a  moment 
she  was  going  to  kill  herself ;  and  then  I  heard  her  coming 
back,  not  alone. 

She  re-entered,  dragging  after  her  the  decrepit  form  of  an 
old  woman,  whom  under  other  circumstances  I  should  have 
taken  for  a  housekeeper  or  something  of  the  sort,  and  in 
whom  I  recognized,  with  a  shudder  of  disgust,  old  Pahlen. 

How  this  horrible  creature,  after  her  escape  from  prison, 
found  her  way  to  her  mistress,  I  never  learned  ;  but  the 
closer  the  relations  that  had  existed,  as  mistress  and  servant, 
between  them,  the  fiercer  was  the  rupture,  and  more  fright- 
ful the  reckoning. 

"  Here  !  here  !  "  cried  Constance,  dragging  the  woman 
almost  to  my  feet,  "  here  she  is  !  George.  I  adjure  you  by 
heaven  and  all  that  is  holy,  kill  this  monster  who  would  have 
plunged  me  into  horrible  crime." 

Constance's  words,  her  passion,  my  presence,  all  combined 
overwhelmed  the  wicked  woman.  I  saw  in  her  old  wrinkled 
face,  in  the  sidelong  look  of  her  evil  eyes,  that  she  knew  her 
guilt ;  and  Constance  saw  it  as  well  as  I ;  for  as  the  creature 
with  faltering  words  tried  to  frame  some  excuse,  she  cut  her 
short  with  a  cry  of  rage,  almost  a  yell,  that  long  after 
sounded  in  my  ears  ;  "  Begone  !  out  of  my  sight !  wretch ! 
monster ! " 

The  wretch  was  no  doubt  glad  of  the  chance  of  escape  for 
which  her  sidelong  eyes  had  been  searching  before,  and 
rushed  out  of  the  door.  I  never  saw  her  again,  and  know 
not  how  long  afterwards  she  dragged  out  her  wretched  exist- 
ence, nor  when  and  how  it  ended. 

Constance  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  room,  with  a  face 
which  showed  her  entire  conviction  of  the  truth,  and  wring- 
ing her  hands  in  anguish.     Suddenly  she  threw  hferself  upon 


"  Hammer  and  Anvil.  657 

her  knees  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  and  seemed  to  pour  forth 
her  heart  in  agonized  prayer.  I  observed  that  where  she 
knelt  a  small  ivory  crucifix  was  attached  to  the  wall,  and 
that  from  time  to  time  she  separated  her  hands  to  make  the 
sign  of  the  Cross,  and  then  clasped  them  again  in  fervent 
prayer.  Later  I  learned,  by  chance,  that  Constance,  when 
in  Italy,  had  returned  to  the  Catholic  church,  the  faith  of  her 
mother.  Whatever  spiritual  peace  she  may  have  afterwards 
found,  after  confession  and  long  penance,  as  the  abbess  of  a 
Roman  convent,  at  this  moment  her  prayers  seemed  to  be  un- 
availing. She  arose  from  the  crucifix  only  to  fall  at  my  feet, 
to  clasp  my  knees,  and  to  beg  me  to  avert  the  frightful  con- 
sequences of  what  she  had  done.  I  raised  her,  saying  that 
I  had  already  done  all  that  was  in  my  power,  and  that  I  had 
come  to  her  to  learn  if  she  could  do  nothing. 

"  There  is  but  one  means,"  she  said ;  "  and  that  is  to  pre- 
vail if  possible  upon  Herr  Lenz  to  quit  the  field — to  leave 
here  immediately." 

"  How  can  we  do  that?  The  man  is  evidently  your  tool, 
the  tool  of  your  revenge  ;  and  it  is  no  longer  in  your  control 
— or  do  you  think  it  is  ?  " 

"  It  may  be,  it  may  be,"  she  said,  in  a  low  hurried  tone. 
"  He  knows  that  I  do  not  love  him  ;  he  knows  about  Carl, 
and  that  has  made  him  furious  ;  but  I  know  that  he  loves 
me,  and  that  for  the  prize  of  my  hand,  which  I  have  always 
refused  him,  he  would  consent  to  anything — to  anything ! 
Am  I  not  fair  enough,  George,  for  a  man  to  consent  to  any- 
thing for  my  sake  ?  " 

She  threw  back  with  trembling  hands  the  dark  lustrous 
masses  of  hair  from  either  side  of  her  face,  and  smiled  upon 
me.  I  have  only  once  in  my  life  seen  such  a  face,  and  that 
was  when,  in  the  Glyptothek  at  Munich,  I  saw  the  Ronda- 
nini  Medusa,  and  then  the  world-celebrated  mask  seemed  to 
me  but  a  weak  copy. 

"  Come  !  "  I  said. 
,  She  was  about  to  start  just  as  she  was :  I  wrapped  her  in 
a  cloak  of  furs  which  she  had  probably  worn  from  the  theatre, 
and  which  was  lying  on  the  floor.  We  left  the  house  and 
drove  to  the  lodging*  of  Herr  von  Sommer.  The  house  was 
closed.  Some  minutes  passed  before  our  repeated  knocking 
brought  the  porter  to  the  door. 


658  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

"  Herr  von  Sommer  set  out  half  an  hour  ago." 

"  Do  you  know  where  he  was  going  ?  " 

"  He  did  not  say,  further  than  that  he  would  not  be  back 
for  several  days." 

"  Is  no  one  in  the  house  that  can  give  further  informa- 
tion ? " 

"  Hardly  :  he  took  his  own  servant  with  him." 

"  You  have  no  idea  where  he  was  going  ?  " 

"  None.     He  went  in  a  droschky." 

I  saw  that  nothing  more  was  to  be  got  out  of  the  man,  who 
stood  shivering  in  his  sheepskin  cloak  ;  and  in  fact  he  cut 
short  the  interview  by  shutting  the  door  with  a  muttered 
oath. 

Constance  who  had  followed  me,  had  heard  all. 

"  Perhaps  we  can  learn  from  him.'" 

We  drove  to  the  palace  of  the  prince.  Our  progress  was 
slow  ;  a  furious  gale  was  blowing,  and  the  wretched  horse 
could  scarcely  drag  the  coach  through  the  snow-drifts.  I 
fancied  that  our  own  slow  journey  was  an  emblem  of  repent- 
ance, which  toils  painfully  after  the  evil  deed  that  it  can 
never  overtake. 

At  ]ast  we  reached  the  palace.  As  we  got  out,  I  cast  an 
involuntary  look  towards  the  sky.  From  a  clear  space,  the 
blackness  of  which  contrasted  with  the  white  clouds  that 
were  driving  with  arrowy  speed  across  the  sky,  looked  down 
upon  us  the  calm  eternal  stars.  The  words  of  Constance's 
favorite  song  came  into  my  my  mind : 

•'  All  day  long  the  bright  sun  loves  me, 
Woos  me  with  his  glowing  light  j 
But  I  better  love  the  gentle 
Stars  of  night." 

Alas,  this  starry  love  had  guided  her  far  astray — ^had  brought 
her  at  last  here,  in  this  fearful  night,  to  the  house  where  the 
sister  was  knocking  at  the  door  of  her  brother  whom  she 
had  involved  in  the  web  of  death. 

The  palace  was  dark  ;  only  the  two  lamps  on  either  side 
the  great  entrance  were  burning,  and  their  golden  light,  in 
which  the  snow  flakes  were  once  more  fluttering  down,  shone 
dimly,  as  it  had  done  a  year  before  at  the  unhappy  meeting 
between  us  two  at  this  very  spot. 


r  _  ■ 

s 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  659 

I  rang  the  bell :  I  heard  its  hollow  clamor  dully  reverbe- 
rating in  the  hall  of  stone,  as  in  a  great  sepulchral  vault. 
No  one  came.  At  last  after  minutes  of  agonizing  expecta- 
tion, the  door  was  opened  :  a  man  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  with 
a  light  in  his  hand,  stood  before  me.  The  fellow's  face  was 
flushed  with  drinking  and  his  eyes  glassy  ;  it  was  evident 
that  in  the  servants'  hall  the  master's  absence  had  been 
turned  to  good  account.  He  was  about  to  close  the  door  in 
my  face,  but  I  set  my  foot  against  it  and  pushed  in.  The 
man  then  recognized  me,  having  seen  me  at  the  palace  twice 
already  to-day,  and  probably  before  at  Rossow.  He  answered 
my  questions  with  disagreeable  servility.  His  highness  had 
driven  out  half  an  hour  before  with  the  count ;  not  in  his 
own  carriage,  but  in  a  hired  droschky  taken  from  the  stand. 
He  did  not  know  where  his  highness  had  gone ;  his  highness 
often  went  out  in  a  droschky.  He  would  certainly  not  be 
back  until  very  late,  if  he  came  back  at  all  to-night.  He, 
for  his  part,  had  leave  to  go  to  bed. 

It  was  evident  that  it  was  high  time  the  fellow  was  making 
use  of  this  permission,  for  he  tottered  with  sleep  while  he 
stammered  out  these  words.  It  was  the  same  report  that  I 
had  received  at  the  other  house :  both  parties  had  already 
left  the  city,  to  go  heaven  only  knew  where  :  somewhere 
where  their  meeting  might  be  undisturbed.  I  said  to  Con- 
stance that  we  could  do  no  more. 

"  I  will  go  home  and  pray,"  she  said. 

Was  it  a  reminiscence  from  the  tragedy  in  which  she  had 
been  playing  ?  Was  it  really  for  her  the  close  of  the  tragedy 
of  her  life  }  She  spoke  no  word  further  as  we  went  home, 
except  that  once  she  said  : 

"  I  have  at  least  helped  you  to  your  happiness." 

1  do  not  know  what  she  meant. 


-o- 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

WHEN    I   reached  home  it  was  one   o'clock— ^a  fact 
which  I  could  scarcely  comprehend.     It  seemed  to 
me  as  if  not  hours  but  weeks  had  elapsed  since  I 
parted  from  Hermine.     I  went  on  tip-toe  to  her  room  and 


66o 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


bent  over  her  bed,  where  she  lay  sleeping,  one  arm  beneath 
her  head,  like  a  slumbering  child.  And  like  that  of  a  child 
was  the  expression  of  her  face,  as  though  a  happy  dream 
were  passing  ^through  her  spirit.  It  seemed  to  me  like  a 
crime  to  sit  watching,  with  a  world  of  sorrow  and  anguish  in 
my  soul,  by  the  side  of  this  blessed  peace ;  and  yet  slumber 
was  impossible  to  me.  So  I  put  the  shade  before  the  night- 
lamp  again,  and  went  to  my  own  bed-chamber  where  I  had 
already  lighted  a  lamp. 

In  the  dim  light  of  this  lamp  which  only  made  a  few  ob- 
jects in  the  room  visible  while  the  rest  were  plunged  in 
darkness,  I  sat  for  hours  before  the  hearth  in  which  the  last 
spark  had  long  died  out  from  the  ashes,  revolving  in  my 
breast  thoughts  indescribably  painful.  In  vain  did  I  en- 
deavor to  recall  my  old  cheerful  courage ;  it  seemed  to  have 
died  out,  like  the  embers  in  the  ashes  before  me,  which  had 
once  glowed  as  brightly  and  sparkled  as  cheerfully :  in  vain 
did  I  try  to  bring  to  my  memory  all  the  goodness  and  kind- 
ness that  life  had  brought  me  hitherto,  and  in  which  it  still 
was  rich  ;  nothing  would  appear  to  me  in  the  old  light :  all 
was  empty,  gray,  and  dead,  as  though  the  world  were  but  a 
scene  of  devastation  and  decay,  and  I  were  wandering  com- 
fortless and  alone,  among  the  ruins  of  splendors  long  passed 
away. 

A  reaction  from  my  excessive  excitement  must  have  over- 
come me  at  last.  I  dreamed  that  there  was  a  gray  twilight 
that  was  neither  night  nor  day.  I  was  wandering  alone  upon 
the  bleak  ridge  of  the  promontory  at  Zehrendorf,  and  a  bit- 
ter piercing  wind  was  blowing  from  the  sea.  All  was  waste 
and  desolate,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  ruin 
of  the  old  Zehrenburg,  which  rose  dumb  and  defiant  in  the 
twilight.  But  when  I  looked  at  it,  it  was  not  the  old  castle, 
but  a  gigantic  statue  of  stone,  which  was  the  Wild  Zehren 
looking  with  dull  glazed  eyes  towards  the  west,  where  his  sun 
had  set  forever  in  the  eternal  sea.  And  though  no  light 
illuminated  the  gray  twilight,  a  bright  glitter  flashed  from  a 
golden  chain  which  was  on  the  neck  of  the  stone  giant  who 
was  the  Wild  Zehren,  and  spurs  of  gold  gleamed  upon  his 
feet  of  stone,  and  brightly  flashed  the  bare  blade  of  the 
broad  knight's  sword  which  lay  across  his  knees  of  stone. 
And  as,  full  of  inward  terror,  I  watched  the  statue,  a  small 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  66 1 

figure  came  through  the  tall  broom  and  drew  near  the  stone 
giant,  which  it  crept  lurkingly  around,  and  watched  from  all 
sides.  And  the  queer  small  figure  was  the  commerzienrath, 
and  he  made  the  oddest  faces  and  cut  the  strangest  capers 
when  he  found  the  giant  was  so  fast  asleep.  Suddenly  he 
began  to  clamber  up  the  knees,  then  stood  upon  tip-toe  and 
took  the  golden  chain  from  the  giant's  neck  and  hung  it 
around  his  own,  then  sprang  down  and  took  the  sword,  and 
lastly  the  golden  spurs,  which  he  buckled  on.  Then  with 
ridiculous  f>omposity  he  strode  backwards  and  forwards  in 
the  knight's  accoutrements,  and  tried  to  brandish  the  sword, 
but  could  not  lift  it,  while  his  spurs  kept  catching  in  the  high 
broom  and  tripping  him,  and  the  heavy  chain  upon  his 
shoulders  pressed  him  down,  so  that  he  suddenly  became  a 
decrepit  and  bowed  old  man  who  could  scarcely  stand  upon 
.  his  feet,  and  still  tried  to  balance  himself  like  a  rope-dancer, 
upon  the  sharp  edge  of  the  precipice  where  the  chalk-clifF 
fell  perpendicularly  to  the  sea.  I  strove  to  call  to  him  to 
have  a  care  for  Hermine's  sake,  but  I  could  neither  speak 
nor  move  ;  and  suddenly  he  fell  over  the  cliff.  I  heard  the 
heavy  fall  of  his  body  upon  the  pebbly  beach,  and  the  giant 
begun  to  laugh,  a  laugh  so  loud,  so  terrible  that  I  awakened 
in  fright,  and  with  wildly-beating  heart  looked  around  the 
room,  into  which,  through  the  curtains,  there  fell  a  gray  twi- 
light which  was  neither  night  nor  day,  just  as  it  had  been  in 
my  dream,  and  I  still  heard  the  resonant  peals  of  laughter, 
but  they  were  blows  with  which  some  impatient  hand  was 
battering  at  the  house-door.     I  hastened  to  open  it  myself. 

"  What  is  the  matter.?"  I  asked. 

"  A  message  for  Herr  Hartwig,  and — and — ^ah  !  you  are 
there  yourself,  Herr  Hartwig,  I  see." 

It  was  a  servant  from  the  hotel  at  which  for  many  years 
my  father-in-law  had  been  in  the  habit  of  stopping  whenever 
he  came  to  the  town. 

"  Yes ;  what  is  the  matter  ?" 

"  My  master  sends  his  respects,  and — and  the  Herr  Com- 
merzienrath has  just  been  found  dead  in  his  bed." 

I  stared  aghast  into  the  face  of  the  man  :  he  probaWy 
thought  that  I  had  not  understood  him,  and  stammered  out 
his  awkward  message  again ;  but  I  had  perfectly  well  under- 
stood him  at  first ;  that  is,  I  had  understood  the  meaning  of 


662 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


his  words.  The  commerzienrath  has  been  found  dead  in  his 
bed.  That  is  very  easily  said,  and  as  easily  understood. 
The  commerzienrath  had  been  found  dead  in  his  bed. 

"  I  will  come  at  once,"  I  said. 

The  man  hastened  off;  I  went  back  to  my  room,  put  on 
my  overcoat  and  hat,  took  a  pair  of  dark  gloves  instead  of 
the  light  ones  I  had  worn  the  previous  evening — all  quite 
mechanically,  as  if  I  were  going  out  about  some  ordinary 
business.  "  The  commerzienrath  has  been  found  dead  in  his 
bed,"  I  repeated,  as  I  would  have  repeated  a  report  brought 
to  the  office  that  a  belt  had  broken  in  such  and  such  a  shop. 

Then  suddenly  a  pang  darted  through  me  as  if  a  dagger 
had  been  thrust  into  my  breast. 

"  Poor  child  !"  I  muttered,  "  poor  child,  how  will  she  bear 
it  ?  But  there  is  so  much  misfortune  in  the  world ;  so  much 
misfortune,  and  he  was  an  old  man."  , 

Thus  I  left  the  house,  in  which  the  inmates  already  began 
to  be  stirring. 

'*  You  are  going  out  early  this  morning,"  said  the  porter, 
coming  out  of  his  lodge.  "  Anything  happened  at  the 
works  ?" 

I  did  not  answer :  not  until  I  had  reached  the  street  did  I 
comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  man's  words.  It  was  now 
near  seven  o'clock,  and  already  clear  daylight.  The  wind 
had  hauled  to  westward,  and  was  blowing  hard.  It  was 
raining :  streams  of  water  poured  from  the  roofs,  and  the 
heavy  snow  that  had  fallen  in  the  night  was  mostly  changed 
into  gray  slush,  through  which  the  bakers'  and  milkmens' 
carts  were  toiling  heavily.  I  was  shivering,  and  said  to  my- 
self that  it  was  a  very  disagreeable  morning ;  but  no  other 
feeling  awakened  in  me.  At  a  corner  I  met  a  hearse  with 
no  following  of  carriages  ;  the  driver  upon  his  high  seat  had 
pulled  his  cocked  hat  down  over  his  face  ;  the  broken-down 
horses  were  going  at  a  half-trot ;  the  hearse  slipped  about 
in  the  slush,  and  the  threadbare  black  pall  that  was  hung 
over  the  hearse  flapped  to  and  fro  in  the  wind. 

"That  cannot  be  the  commerzienrath,"  I  said,  looking 
after  the  hearse  with  a  vacant  mind. 

Thus  I  reached  the  hotel. 

"  Number  eleven :  first  door  to  the  right  at  the  top  of  the 
stairs,"  said  the  porter. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  663 

He  accompanied  me  up  the  stairs,  more,  no  doubt,  from 
curiosity  than  sympathy,  and  told  me  that  the  Herr  Com- 
merzienrath  had  arrived  in  the  last  train  yesterday  evening, 
and  he  had  been  ordered  to  wake  the  commerzienrath  at 
half-past  six  this  morning,  as  he  had  a  note  to  send  to  Herr 
Hartwig.  He  knocked  at  the  door  punctually  to  the  minute, 
and  the  Herr  Commerzienrath  had  called  out  quite  plainly  : 
"  Very  well ;  let  Louis  bring  my  coffee  ; "  and  when  ten 
minutes  later,  Louis  took  the  coffee  up,  the  commerzienrath 
did  not  answer,  and  they  found  he  was  dead.  Who  would 
have  expected  it  ?  Such  a  robust  old  gentleman  !  And 
they  sent  off  at  once  for  Doctor  Snellius,  because  he  was 
Herr  Hartwig's  family  physician,  and  the  doctor  would  cer- 
tainly be  here  in  a  minute.  "  This  door,  Herr  Hartwig,  this 
door."  r     * 

The  door  was  ajar.  The  landlord,  the  head-waiter,  and 
another  man,  if  I  remember  rightly,  were  standing  in  the 
large  room,  into  which  the  dim  light  fell  through  the  half- 
drawn  curtains.  At  the  farther  end  of  the  room  was  a  bed, 
before  which  two  lights  were  burning  on  a  small  table. 

"  We  left  everything  as  we  found  it,"  said  the  landlord  in 
a  low  tone,  as  he  went  with  us  to  the  bed.  "  It  is  a  rule 
with  me  in  such  cases  to  exercise  the  greatest  discretion. 
One  has  then  no  reason  to  reproach  oneself,  and  avoids  much 
inconvenience.  The  Herr  Commerzienrath  is  lying  precisely 
as  Louis  found  him  ;  and  there  lies  the  tray  with  coffee 
where  Louis  put  it  down." 

There  lay  the  tray  with  coffee  where  Louis  had  put  it  down, 
and  there  lay  the  commerzienrath  as  Louis  had  found  him. 
The  light  from  the  two  candles,  their  long  wicks  unsnuffed, 
fell  brightly  enough  upon  his  face  into  which  I  now  gazed. 
It  was  the  third  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  looked  closely 
into  the  face  of  the  dead.  And  naturally  the  other  two  faces 
rose  in  my  memory ;  that  of  the  Wild  Zehren,  that  of  my 
dear  and  fatherly  friend,  and  now  here  was  this.  In  the 
sombre  features  of  the  Wild  Zehren  had  lain  gloomy  defiance, 
like  those  of  an  Indian  chief,  who,  bound  fast  to  the  death- 
stake,  sings  taunting  songs  at  his  tormentors;  upon  the 
mild  face  of  his  noble  brother  had  lain  a  sublime  calm,  as 
ui^n  the  face  of  one  who  dies  for  the  sake  of  others.  How 
different  was  the  face  before  me  !     About  the  large  mouth 


664 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


hovered  something  like  the  mocking  smile  which  he  usually 
wore  when  he  thought  he  had  overreached  any  one  ;  his 
eyes  half  shut,  as  he  used  to  shut  them  when  he  wished  to 
hide  his  real  meaning  :  over  all  the  old,  wrinkled,  yellow 
face  was  spread  the  deceitful  cloud  in  which  he  loved  to  hide 
himself,  only  that  the  cloud  was  drawn  now  a  little  closer  than 
usual,  and  it  was  not  his  old  cuttle-fish  manoeuvre,  but  death. 

"  And  we  were  so  cheerful  last  night,"  whispered  the  host. 
"  We  sat  in  the  dining-room  until  half-past  one,  and  drank 
three  bottles  of  champagne.  The  Railroad  Director  Schwelle 
was  with  us.  I  have  warned  the  old  gentleman  often  enough ; 
at  his  years  one  should  be  more  prudent.  And  such  a  clear 
head  !  Such  a  head  for  business  !  And  here  lies  the  note 
that  was  to  be  sent  to  you  this  morning." 

It  was  a  leaf  apparently  torn  from  his  pocket-book,  with 
half  a  page  of  writing  on  it ;  the  pencil  with  which  he  had 
written,  lay  by  it.  I  took  up  the  paper ;  the  characters  were 
very  legible,  even  firmer  than  his  writing  usually  was  of  late  : 

"  Dear  Son  :  I  arrived  here  yesterday  evening,  and  would 
like  to  speak  with  you  before  you  go  home  from  the  works. 
May  I  ask  you  to  wait  for  me  ?  I  must  first  go  on  'Change, 
where  I  shall  meet  many  envious  faces  to-day.  They  will 
see  to-day  how  soon  an  old  hand  can  grind  little  notches 
out  of  his  blade.  But  more  of  this  when  we  meet.  If  you 
are  engaged  out,  please  excuse  yourself,  as  I  should  like  to 
sit  at  your  table  once  more.  But  no  preparations  for  me,  I 
beg.  Only,  if  you  can  manage  it  conveniently,  my  favorite 
dish,  Magdeburg  cabbage,  and  a  little " 

The  bill  of  fare  was  broken  off,  and  here  lay  the  guest. 

"  Death  overtook  him  while  he  was  writing,"  said  the 
landlord,  whose  discretion  had  not  hindered  him  from  look- 
ing over  my  shoulder  into  the  paper.  "  How  sudden  it 
comes,  sometimes  ! " 

At  this  moment  the  doctor  stood  among  us  :  I  had  not 
heard  him  enter.  He  nodded  to  me  without  speaking,  and 
leaned  over  the  dead  man.  Thus  he  remained  sometime 
and  then  he  raised  himself  up  and  said  to  the  landlord : 

"  I  wish  you  would  heat  for  me  about  a  wine-glassful  of 
pure  Jamaica  rum.  It  must  be  perfectly  pure  rum,  and  must 
be  brought  to  a  boil.  You  would  probably  do  better  to  look 
after  it  yourself." 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  66-5 

"  Certainly,  certainly,"  said  the  landlord.  "  It  is  my  duty 
in  such  cases  to  do  everything  that  lies  in  my  power." 

"  And  do  you  go  and  see  that  I  get  it  at  once  ;  and  you, 
young  man,  tell  my  driver  to  wait  for  me." 

"Yes  sir,"  said  both  the  waiters  at  once,  and  hastened 
after  the  landlord. 

"  Have  you  any  hope  ? "  I  asked. 

The  doctor  did  not  answer.  He  gave  a  hurried  glance  at 
the  door,  then  stepped  again  to  the  bed,  threw  back  the  cover- 
lid which  the  dead  man  had  drawn  up  over  breast  and  arms 
as  high  as  the  chin,  and  then  I  saw  that  he  took  out  a  small 
phial  which  he  had  probably  found  under  the  cover  in  the 
stiffened  hand  of  the  corpse.  He  smelled  its  contents  cau- 
tiously for  a  moment,  then  wrapped  it  in  a  piece  of  paper 
and  put  it  in  his  waistcoat  pocket. 

"  Unless  there  is  some  especial  reason  for  it,"  he  said, 
"your  wife  need  not  know  that  her  father  has  poisoned 
himself" 

I  groaned  aloud. 

"  Courage  !  courage  !  "  said  the  doctor  ;  "  this  is  a  world 
in  which  things  are  often  desperately  dark.  But  this  cannot 
be  helped  now,  and  you  have  to  think  of  your  wife  and 
children." 

As  I  went  home  an  hour  later,  the  wind  was  howling  as 
furious  as  ever  through  the  rainy  streets,  and  at  the  same 
corner  I  met  the  same  hearse,  now  coming  back  in  a  slouch- 
ing trot  as  before.  I  looked  at  it  without  the  least  emotion 
or  feeling,  which  seemed  indeed  to  have  perished  forever  in 
my  breast.  Yes,  yes,  the  doctor  was  right :  it  was  often 
desperately  dark  in  this  world ;  and  I  do  not  know  that  it 
would  have  seemed  darker  to  me  had  I  known  what  I  did 
not  know,  that  in  the  palace  of  the  prince,  which  I  had  to 
pass  on  my  way  home,  behind  the  lowered  curtains,  the  last 
of  the  male  line  of  the  princes  of  Prora-Wiek,  counts  of 
Ralow,  was  giving  up  his  young  life  under  the  hands  of  the 
surgeons. 


666 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 


IT  is  often  desperately  dark  in  this  world  ;  who  can  say : 
"  It  cannot  be  darker  now  ?  " 
When  I  reached  home  there  was  a  running  and  a 
calling — something  had  happened.  An  hour  before  she  had 
rung  for  me,  and  I  was  not  to  be  found.  "She  was  taken 
in  a  dreadful  way ;  but  luckily  what  was  most  needed  was 
ready  at  hand  ;  for  the  doctor " 

"  He  is  close  behind  me,"  I  said,  and  hurried  into  the 
room,  from  which  came  the  most  heart-breaking  cries. 

"  Courage,  dearest  friend,  courage,"  said  the  doctor  an 
hour  or  two  later  :  "  it  is  a  little  too  soon,  and — but  there 
are  often  worse  cases,  I  think — but  stay  here  a  few  minutes 
and  breathe  a  little  fresh  air  ;  you  are  terribly  excited  ;  you 
cannot  bear  it." 

"  She  has  to  bear  it,"  I  cried,  wringing  my  hands. 

"  Of  course,"  he  answered.     "  Come  with  me." 

The  day  was  fine,  notwithstanding  the  cold  night  and  the 
gray  rainy  morning ;  the  March  sun  had  broken  gloriously 
through  the  clouds,  and  shone  dazzlingly  from  the  clear-blue 
sky :  the  thawing  snow  was  dropping  from  all  the  roofs  and 
pouring  from  all  the  rain-spouts,  and  in  the  thick  branches 
of  the  trees  of  the  garden  upon  which  the  windows  opened, 
birds  were  fluttering  and  twittering,  proclaiming  that  winter 
was  at  last  over  and  the  spring  had  come. 

But  I  had  no  ear  for  this  proclamation  :  I  had  no  faith  in 
the  blue  sky  and  the  running  water ;  I  awaited  other  tidings — 
awaited  them  with  fervent  prayers  and  passionate  vows,  such 
as  men  offer  in  the  time  of  sore  extremity ;  and  the  tidings 
came  at  sunset,  in  a  tiny  piping  voice  that  seemed  to  go 
directly  to  my  heart. 

Yes,  now  it  was  spring.  I  saw  the  spring  sunlight  in  the 
happy  smile  of  the  pale  young  mother ;  I  saw  the  bright 
spring  sky  in  her  blue  eyes  that  looked  smilingly  up  to 
me  in  a  soft  tremulous  light  such  as  I  had  never  before  seen 
in  them,  and  then  were  turned  with  beaming  love  upon  her 
babe. 

"  It  is  a  girl,  after  all,"  she  whispered.     "  You  will  spoil 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  667 

her  terribly,  and  love  her  a  great  deal  more  than  me  ;  but  I 
will  not  be  jealous,  I  promise  you." 

And  the  next  day  the  sun  was  shining  again,  and  the 
heaven  still  blue  and  the  birds  jubilant. 

"  If  the  weather  keeps  so  fine,  we  can  soon  go  to  Zehren- 
dorf,"  she  said.  "  It  is  very  well  that  you  have  not  come  to 
a  definite  settlement  with  the  prince.  He  has  been  very 
kind  and  obliging  to  us,  it  is  true,  but  still  I  think  you  had 
better  reconsider  the  matter  with  my  father.  Why  does  my 
father  not  come  "i     You  have  written  to  him,  haven't  you  ?  " 

"  Certainly  ;  but  he  had  started  on  a  journey.  And  you 
must  not  talk  so  much." 

"  I  feel  quite  strong :  I  only  wish  I  could  give  the  little 
one  some  of  my  strength.  Oh  me  !  such  a  giant  as  you  are, 
George,  and  such  a  tiny  morsel  of  a  babe !  But  it  has  your 
eyes,  sir !  " 

"  I  hope  it  has  yours,  madame." 

"  Why  so  ?  " 

"  Because  then  it  would  have  the  loveliest  in  the  world." 

"  What  a  flatterer  !  But  to  come  back  to  Zehrendorf :  we 
will  have  to  keep  it  on  account  of  the  child,  which  will  need 
country  air,  the  doctor  says.  I  can  see  us  both  sitting 
under  the  great  beech  which  I  saved  because  you  carved 
your  name  on  it — for  somebody  else,  sir  ! — and  now  to  be  sit- 
ting with  wife  and  child,  a  prosaic,  common-place  husband, 
where  you  once  stood  full  of  romantic  dreams — ^is  it  not  very 
comical .'' " 

"  Oh  yes,  it  is  inexpressibly  comical ;  but  now  you  really 
must  not  talk  any  more." 

"  Your  commands  shall  be  obeyed,  my  lord." 

And  her  blue  eyes  laughed  so  saucily,  and  she  was  so  full 
of  life  and  hope  and  happiness,  so  merry,  and  full,  of  mirth- 
ful fancies ;  it  cut  me  to  the  heart  when  I  saw  and  heard 
her,  and  had  to  leave  her,  under  the  pretext  of  urgent  busi- 
ness, to  go  and  bury  her  father,  who  had  killed  himself  to 
avoid  the  disgrace  of  a  shameful  bankruptcy.  And  this  day 
too  was  a  bright  golden  day  of  spring  ;  only  here  and  there 
were  these  drops  falling  from  the  roofs,  for  the  bright  sun 
and  warm  air  had  dried  the  moisture ;  in  the  sky,  making  it 
a  still  deeper  blue,  were  standing  great  white  clouds,  and 
the  birds  in  the  budding  trees  were  thinking  seriously  of  set- 


668  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

ting  up  housekeeping — who  could  help  looking  cheerfully  in 
spite  of  all,  into  the  future  that  was  to  make  all  right  ?  Who 
would  not  shake  off  his  winter  cares  when  he  saw  how  every- 
thing was  springing  and  budding  and  blooming  ?     But — 

One  night  in  spring  there  came  a  frost ; 
It  nipped  the  tender  blossoms. 

Let  this  sad  refrain  of  the  old  song  say  for  me  what  I  can- 
not bring  myself  to  narrate  in  words.  It  needs  no  comment; 
nor  do  the  two  fresh  graves,  one  larger  and  one  tiny  hillock, 
close  side  by  side  ;  nor  the  flowers  which  loving  hands  have 
strewn  above  them. 

One  night  in  spring  there  came  a  frost ; 
"     >  -         '  •  It  nipped  the  tender  blossoms. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

ONLY  work  can  make  us  free  ! 
I  had  opportunity  enough  in  the  two  following  years 
to  test  this  leading  aphorism  of  the  wisdom  of  my 
teacher,  in  all  its  bearings. 

Work  indeed  made  me  free. 

But  free  from  what  ?  'I 

First  from  the  meshes  of  the  dishonest  web  in  which  the 
association  with  my  father-in-law  had  involved  me,  the  meshes 
from  which  he  for  his  part  had  torn  himself  swiftly  loose  by 
a  self-inflicted  death,  and  from  which  I  gradually  disengaged 
myself  with  incredible  toil,  which  I  had  to  disentangle,  untie, 
straighten  out,  if  I  would  not  let  disgrace  and  obloquy  rest 
upon  the  name  of  the  man  who  had  been  the  father  of  my 
wife. 

It  came  to  light  that,  like  a  desperate  player,  he  had  given 
up  the  game  before  it  was  quite  lost.  But  in  truth  that  is 
not  exactly  the  right  word.  It  was  lost  for  him  ;  for  what 
alone  could  have  saved  him,  could  have  set  him  free,  as  it 
set  me  free  who  took  his  obligations  upon  myself,  was  con- 
scientious, honest,  manly  work.     But  this  was  to  him  impos- 


Hantm^  and  Anvil. 


669 


sible  :  he  had  never  accustomed  himself  to  it,  had  never  be- 
lieved in  its  efficacy  and  its  mighty  results.  When  I  spoke 
with  enthusiasm  to  him  of  the  future  that  would  bloom  for 
our  enterprises,  and  that  out  of  the  waste  place  of  ruins  that 
he  had  despised  for  so  many  years,  there  would  arise  a  star 
of  life  and  prosperity  whose  genial  influences  would  extend 
far  and  wide,  he  only  smiled  in  contemptuous  incredulity, 
and  called  me  an  enthusiast,  a  dreamer,  who  would  end  by 
burning  his  fingers,  or  at  best  would  only  pull  the  sweet 
chestnuts  out  of  his  furnace-fires  for  others  to  feast  upon. 

And  he  had  gone  on  and  gambled  on  upon  'Change,  in 
stocks,  in  foreign  loans,  in  spirits,  in  cotton,  in  heaven  knows 
what,  just  as  he  had  formerly  gambled  in  contraband  goods 
and  in  uninsured  ships,  until  at  last  the  cards  so  fell  that  he 
saw  no  escape  but  to  quit  at  once  the  table  and  his  life. 

I  could  never  rid  myself  of  the  thought  that  the  shame  of 
having  to  appear  so  small  before  me,  to  whom  he  had  always 
so  vaunted  himself ;  to  have  to  admit  that  I  was  right  with 
my  stupid  honesty ;  the  shame  of  this  it  was,  I  say,  drove 
to  his  death  the  man  who  had  inordinate  vanity,  but  not  a 
trace  of  genuine  pride.  He  knew  that  it  was  all  over  with 
his  wisdom,  his  superiority ;  and  worst  of  all,  it  was  all  over 
with  his  authority :  and  he  grudged  me  what  was  to  come  in 
the  future,  since  I  had  so  often,  both  in  jest  and  earnest, 
foretold  him  that  a  new  time  had  come  ;  an  age  of  brother- 
hood, of  equity,  of  justice,  of  mutual  help  ;  and  that  the  old 
egotism  with  its  narrow  schemes,  its  little  tricks  and  petty 
craft,  would  perish  at  the  coming  of  the  great  new  era. 

Perhaps  one  or  another  of  my  readers  may  think  that  in 
thus  prophesying  I  drew  too  largely  on  my  hopes  and  fancies, 
and  that  the  golden  time  of  which  I  spoke  lies  still  as  then 
upon  the  lap  of  the  gods. 

But  I  am  merely  writing  the  history  of  my  own  life ;  and 
I  can  only  say  that  if  my  temperament  be  sanguine  and  my 
views  mclined  to  optimism,  my  own  experiences  in  these 
thmgs  have  not  rendered  turbid  the  free  current  of  my  blood, 
nor  shaken  my  pious  belief  in  the  better  qualities  of  human 
nature  and  beyond  all,  my  faith  in  the  approaching  triumph 
ot  goodness  and  truth,  even  in  our  own  day.  Wherever  in- 
dustry and  uprightness  have  gone  hand  in  hand,  in  those 
provmces  where  I  am  most  at  home— the  provinces  of  indus- 


670  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

try  and  commerce — there  and  only  there  have  I  seen  per- 
manent successes  achieved  ;  and  if  in  politics  it  now  and 
then  appears  otherwise,  this  is  but  an  appearance  destined 
soon  to  vanish  and  disclose  the  stern  reality. 

But,  as  I  said,  I  am  only  writing  the  story  of  my  own  life, 
which  has  taught  me  this  lesson  first  and  chiefest  of  all,  and 
at  no  time  were  the  lessons  more  impressive  than  at  the 
period  of  which  I  am  now  speaking.  And  had  I  been  the 
worst  of  pessimists,  the  most  splenetic  of  misanthropes,  the 
proofs  of  love,  of  kindness,  and  of  devotion  which  were  off- 
ered me  on  all  sides,  would  have  taught  me  another  and  a 
better  faith. 

On  all  sides,  even  where  I  had  least  expected  them. 

For  instance  from  the  old  man  whom  during  the  building 
of  the  new  factory  I  had  often  seen  in  dressing-gown  and 
slippers,  a  little  black  cap  on  his  bald  head,  and  a  long  pipe 
in  his  toothless  mouth,  standing  by  the  paling  which  sepa- 
rated the  building-place  from  the  gardens  behind  it,  and  with 
whom  I  had  occasionally  exchanged  a  few  friendly  words, 
without  knowing  or  asking  who  he  was.  This  old  man  came 
to  see  me  on  one  of  the  first  days  of  my  trials,  while  my 
business  misfortunes  and  my  domestic  afflictions  were  dealing 
me  blow  after  blow,  and  introduced  himself  as  Herr  Weber, 
the  former  owner  of  the  ground.  He  had  heard,  he  said, 
that  my  deceased  father-in-law's  affairs  were  not  in  the  best 
condition,  and  he  had  come  to  say  to  me  that  as  for  the  pay- 
ment I  need  be  in  no  hurry — (my  father-in-law  had  assured 
me  that  the  purchase  had  been  paid  for  to  the  last  farthing) 
— and  that  he  saw  what  trouble  I  was  in,  and  that  I  had 
never  shunned  to  give  my  personal  help  wherever  it  was  nec- 
essary. As  for  the  old  gentleman,  he  would  never  have 
lent  him  a  penny ;  but  when  active  young  men  like  myself 
needed  it,  he  had  always  a  few  thousands  at  their  service, 
say  twenty  or  forty  as  might  be  wanted,  and  if-  they  would 
be  of  any  help  to  me,  I  might  come  and  see  him  when  I 
pleased. 

A  day  or  two  later  came  a  letter  in  a  big  school-boy  band 
and  the  queerest  spelling,  from  the  good  Hans,  to  the  effect 
that  there  was  a  considerable  portion  left  of  his  mother's  for- 
tune, which  was  entirely  at  his  disposal,  and  that  it  was  at 
my  service  to  the  last  penny;  but  as  he  could  not  lay  hands 


Hammer  and  Atwil.  671 

upon  the  cash  at  once,  he  had  in  the  meantime  instituted  a 
very  thorough  search  in  his  desk  and  in  all  his  coats,  with 
astonishingly  successful  results,  and  he  expected  of  my 
friendship  that  I  would  allow  him  to  send  me  this  sum  with- 
out delay.  Moreover,  I  knew,  he  said,  that  he  was  a  better 
manager  than  he  seemed  to  be,  and  if  I  would  permit  him 
to  canter  over  every  day  to  2^hrendorf  and  look  after  things 
a  little  there,  it  would  be  a  real  kindness  both  to  his  bay- 
horse  and  himself 

I  scarcely  need  mention  that  the  good  doctor  offered  me 
his  capital  for  the  third  time  ;  but  this  and  all  the  rest  did 
not  move  me  so  much,  nor  exercise  such  an  influence  on  my 
future,  as  the  proposition  made  to  me  by  a  deputation  of 
the  workmen  of  the  factory,  with  Herr  Roland  at  their  head 
as  spokesman.  They  had  heard,  he  said,  that  matters  were 
not  in  the  condition  they  should  be,  and  that  there  was  dan- 
ger that  the  works  would  pass  into  other  hands  ;  that  this 
possibility  was  very  alarming  to  them,  and  they  had  unani- 
mously resolved  to  avert  it,  if  it  lay  at  all  within  their  power. 
They  therefore  begged  to  inquire  if  it  would  in  any  way 
diminish  my  embarrassments  if  they  one  and  all  agreed  to  a 
reduction  of  wages  until  the  danger  was  over,  and  I  was  in  a 
condition  to  make  good  the  arrears;  releasing  me  at  the 
same  time  from  all  responsibility  in  case  the  hoped-for  turn 
of  affairs  did  not  come  to  pass. 

It  was  some  time  before  I  could  so  far  control  my  emotion 
as  to  be  able  to  answer,  and  then  I  said  to  the  brave  fellows 
that  I  could  never  agree  to  accept  their  generous  offer  ;  not 
because  I  was  ashamed  to  be  under  an  obligation  to  my 
comrades,  but  because,  thanks  to  the  friendly  assistance  I 
had  received  from  other  sources,  I  was  in  a  position  to  fulfil 
all  my  engagements  to  them. 

But  I  had  something  else,  I  said,  in  view.  And  here  I 
unfolded  to  them  a  project  which  I  had  long  planned  with 
the  doctor  and  Klaus,  upon  the  model  of  similar  enterprises 
111  England,  by  which  each  of  the  workmen,  according  to  the 
degree  of  his  skill  and  merit,  became  a  participator  in  the  es- 
tablishment. I  told  them  that  a  time  of  uncertainty,  a  crisis 
like  the  present,  was  not  suitable  for  putting  this  plan  into  - 
execution,  but  that  I  was  more  resolved  than  ever  to  exert 
all  my  powers  to  bring  about  a  fitting  time,  and  that  I  hoped 


672  Hammer  and  Anvii. 

to  be  able  to  offer  the  matter  to  them  definitely,  perhaps 
■within  a  year. 

And  before  a  year  had  passed,  I  was  able  to  redeem  my 
word. 

Nor  was  I  less  fortunate  in  regard  to  the  second  point, 
which  I  had  held  to  with  a  kind  of  passion  while  I  gave  up 
so  much  else  so  willingly :  Zehrendorf  still  remained  in  my 
possession,  and  I  had  not  been  forced  to  abandon  a  single 
one  of  the  useful  improvements  that  had  been  commenced 
there.  On  the  contrary,  all  was  thriving  and  prospering ; 
and  I  had  even  commenced  a  new  work,  the  draining  of  the 
great  moor,  with  the  best  results.  The  property  was  now 
worth,  if  not  the  price  which  the  commerzienrath  had  de- 
manded for  it,  still  very  nearly  that  which  the  generous  young 
prince  had  offered  at  our  memorable  interview.  I  could  not 
look  without  sadness  at  the  letter  which  he  had  written  to 
me  that  evening,  before  I  went  to  him  the  second  time,  in 
which  he  placed  his  credit  at  my  disposal  to  an  extent  far 
exceeding  the  sum  mentioned.  What  had  become  of  the 
other  letter  in  which  he  called  upon  his  father  to  make  good 
this  offer,  in  the  event  of  his  falling  in  the  duel  ?  Doubtless 
it  never  reached  the  hands  for  which  it  was  intended,  for  the 
old  prince,  who  survived  his  son  several  years,  was  a  man  of 
generous  and  noble  character,  and  would  have  held  sacred 
the  last  wish  of  his  unfortunate  son.  And  the  dishonesty  of 
those  who  intercepted  this  letter  turned  to  my  advantage. 
I  should  certainly,  in  those  first  days  of  trial  and  confusion, 
have  parted  at  once  with  the  property  had  the  proposition 
been  made  to  me  ;  but  as  no  one  offered  to  buy  it,  and  I  was 
not  disposed  to  tlirow  it  away  for  a  fourth  of  its  value  to 
Herr  von  Granow,  I  was  compelled  to  keep  it,  and  I  was 
enabled  to  keep  it,  thanks  to  the  generous  help  of  my  good 
Hans,  and — why  should  I  not  say  it  ?  thanks  to  my  own  un- 
tiring exertions. 

But  I  had  to  thank  labor  for  yet  more  than  this.  As  she 
set  me  free  from  the  load  of  indebtedness  which  my  father-in- 
law  had  suddenly  thrown  up)on  my  shoulders,  so  she  bathed 
me  in  dragon's  blood  until  I  was  invulnerable  to  the  keen 
arrows  of  grief  which  at  first  pierced  my  heart  at  the  loss  of 
my  wife  and  my  child.  It  is  true  that  under  the  covering 
of  apparent  insensibility  remained  a  deep-seated  sorrow; 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  673 

but  the  tears  which  I  often  wept  in  the  evening  when  I  came 
home  after  the  toils  of  the  day  to  my  solitary  room,  or  when 
I  awaked  in  the  night  to  a  sense  of  my  loneliness,  had  no 
longer  the  old  corrosive  bitterness  ;  they  flowed  gently,  and 
less  for  my  own  loss  than  at  the  thought  that  one  so  loving, 
so  gentle,  so  graceful,  so  full  of  innocent  mirth  and  light- 
heartedness  had  been  so  untimely  summoned  away.  And 
yet  here  too  there  was  something  which  almost  seemed  a 
consolation.  As  her  father  had  never  loved  any  creature 
upon  earth  but  her,  so  she  had  loved  him  dearly,  however 
often  he  may  have  wounded  her  pride  and  sensibility  by  his 
coarse  and  dishonorable  nature.  His  death,  the  cause  of 
which  could  not  be  altogether  kept  secret,  would  have  been 
a  fearful  blow  to  her ;  and  how  could  she  have  passed  through 
this  time  of  trouble,  of  comparative  poverty,  this  almost  des- 
perate struggle,  she,  who  from  her  earliest  youth  had  found 
life  a  long  festival,  and  who  only  knew  struggles  and  poverty 
by  hearsay  ?  How  could  she  have  borne  to  know  that  her 
husband  of  whom  she  was  so  proud,  whom  her  love  placed 
so  high  above  all  other  men,  was  a  debtor  to  his  friends  ? 
And  could  she  have  entered  with  her  whole  heart  into  the 
feast  in  which  the  chief  of  the  establishment  and  his  work- 
men celebrated  the  founding  of  their  co-operative  associa- 
tion, and  I  declared  that  from  henceforth  the  distinction 
between  us  of  master  and  workmen  was  at  an  end  ;  that  we 
were  all  workmen  and  all  masters  in  one  common  cause. 
Could  she  have  adapted  herself  to  these  relations  ?  Of  a  truth 
she  could  !     For  her  love  for  me  was  greater  than  her  pride. 

She  would  have  adapted  herself  to  it,  for  she  could  well 
play  a  part  when  she  thought  it  necessary  to  do  so  ;  but  to 
enter  into  it,  to  throw  her  heart  into  it,  that  she  could  never 
have  done  ;  and  this  thought  remained  like  a  faint  dimness 
upon  her  lovely  portrait,  which  all  my  love  and  endearing 
memories  could  not  wipe  away.  I  had  to  admit  to  myself 
that  in  the  tasks  which  were  dearest  and  most  sacred  to  me, 
I  must  have  been  alone. 

Alone ! 

I  do  not  know  whether  there  are  men  who  can  endure  the 

sense  of  being  alone  ;  but  I  know  certainly  that  I  do  not 

belong  to  such.     And  I  was  alone  for  the  first  time  for  many, 

many  years  ;  far  more  alone  than  in  that  solitary  apprentice- 

29 


674  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

ship  I  passed  in  the  little  house  among  the  ruins.  There  I 
had  at  least  had  the  dreams  of  a  golden  future  for  my  com- 
panions ;  now  this  future  lay  behind  me  as  a  past,  as  some- 
thing irrevocably  gone.  I  called  myself  ungrateful :  there 
was  still  so  much  left  to  me,  and  above  all,  my  dear,  my 
beloved  friends.  There  was  the  good  Doctor  Snellius,  there 
was  my  brave  Klaus,  there,  over  on  the  island,  was  my  faith- 
ful old  Hans,  and  even  good  Fraulein  Duff  might  have  been 
near  me,  if  her  parents — now  very  aged — in  Saxony,  with 
whom  she  was  staying,  could  have  been  prevailed  upon  to 
part  with  her.  And  before  all,  there  were  Kurt  and  Benno, 
now  grown  tall  stately  young  men,  and  whom  I  often  sport- 
ively called  m  y  staff  and  my  prop. 

In  earnest  as  well  as  in  sport :  for  Kurt  had  now  become 
the  soul  of  the  Technical  Bureau,  and  the  superiority  of  his 
knowledge  and  his  talents  freely  acknowledged  by  all,  even  by 
Herr  Windfang  ;  and  Benno,  who,  half  from  natural  inclina- 
tion and  half  from  affection  to  me,  had  turned  farmer,  knew 
how  to  turn  his  knowledge  of  natural  science  to  such  account 
at  Zehrendorf  as  to  astonish  all  who  understood  what  he 
was  doing. 

In  truth  I  had  no  lack  of  friends,  not  to  mention  the  hun- 
dreds of  stalwart  men  in  the  midst  of  whom  I  lived,  and  who 
would  have  gone  through  fire  and  water  at  a  sign  from  me, 
and  it  would  have  been  ungrateful,  shamefully  ungrateful, 
had  I  spoken  of  being  alone,  so  I  did  not  speak  of  it ;  but  I 
was  alone,  and  I  felt  it,  nor  could  all  my  labor  banish  this 
feeling — indeed  it  seemed  to  strengthen  it. 

"  You  have  worked  too  hard,"  said  the  doctor.  "  Even 
such  a  nature  as  yours  cannot  keep  this  up.  You  must 
break  away — take  a  journey — recreate  yourself  a  little.  One 
should  study  the  Brunels  and  the  Stephensons  on  their  own 
ground,  as  one  studies  Raphael  and  Michel  Angelo.  Only 
don't  stay  away  so  long  as  Paula." 

The  doctor  seemed  to  have  startled  himself  by  associating 
my  name  thus  with  Paula's ;  at  least  he  tuned  himself  down 
with  an  especially  energetic  effort,  looked  at  me  rather 
doubtfully  through  his  round  spectacle-glasses,  and  said,  as 
if  in  answer  to  a  question  on  my  part : 

"  She  is  very  well,  and  enjoying  herself  extremely ;  she 
writes  to  me  from  Meran " 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  675 

And  the  doctor  began  to  hunt  for  the  letter  in  his  old 

fashion.  ,  ,  ,      , 

"From  Meran?"   I    asked;   "how  long  has   she  been 

there?"  ,        ^         ,. 

"  About — let  me  see — about  a  week.  I  thought  a  short 
stay  there  would  be  beneficial  to  her.  The  prolonged  stay 
in  the  Italian  climate  does  not  seem  to  suit  her." 

"  But  I  thought  you  said  just  now,  doctor,  that  she  was 
very  well  ?  " 

"  Well,  so  I  did — that  is  to  say — what  I  mean  was — of 
course  she  is  well ;  but  better  is  better,  and  she  has  been 
there  now  long  enough.  Oscar  stays  behind  in  Rome.  Has 
not  Kurt  told  you  all  about  it?  " 

"  Not  a  word,  from  which  I  infer  that  he  does  not  know  it 
himself     Paula  corresponds  with  scarcely  any  one  but  you." 

"  Well,  I  believe  that  is  so,"  answered  the  doctor,  "  and  I 
know  I  ought  to  read  her  letters  now  and  then  to  you  and 
the  boys  ;  but  somehow  it  always  happens " 

And  the  doctor  made  another  dive  into  his  breast-pocket, 
then,  as  if  in  desperation,  crammed  his  battered  hat  upon 
his  large  bald  head,  and  hurried  off,  leaving  me  once  more 
in  absolute  uncertainty  as  to  what  really  were  the  contents 
of  Paula's  letters,  which  he  was  always  rummaging  his  pock- 
ets for  without  ever  finding. 

That  their  contents  had,  directly  or  indirectly,  some  refer- 
ence to  me,  was  not  to  be  doubted  ;  for  what  other  reason 
could  the  doctor  have  had  in  concealing  these  letters  from 
me  so  carefully?  But  my  conjectures  could  penetrate  no 
further  than  this  ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  admit  to  myself,  with 
deep  grief,  that  I  could  no  longer  understand  Paula.  And 
I  also  could  not  avoid  the  thought  that  she  was  herself  re- 
sponsible for  this,  and  that  it  was  the  result  of  her  own  con- 
duct, if  my  dearest  friend,  my  sister,  as  she  had  so  often 
called  herself,  had  become  a  stranger  and  a  riddle  to  me. 
And  why  ?  I  did  not  know,  nor  could  I  fathom  the  cause. 
Was  it  a  fault  in  me  that  I  once  loved  her  with  all  the 
strength  of  my  young,  buoyant,  confiding  soul  ?  That  after 
she  had  so  often,  under  such  different  circumstances,  and  in 
so  many  ways,  rejected  my  love,  I  had  become  like  a  ship 
torn  from  its  anchor  and  driven  rudderless  upon  a  rough  sea  ? 
Was  it  a  fault  that  even  in  my  love  for  Hermine,  I  could  not 


676  Hammer  and  Anvil.  j 

forget  her,  though  I  knew  that  she  would  remain  forever  dis- 
tant from  me,  and  that  I  had  in  future  only  to  look  up  to  her 
as  to  the  high  inaccessible  stars  ?  Must  I  pay  so  heavy  a 
penalty  for  what  was  as  natural  to  me  as  to  breathe  ?  Must 
she  on  this  account  exclude  me  from  the  council  of  her 
heart,  in  which  I  had  before  been  so  proud  of  my  place  ; 
and  forbid  my  participation  in  her  hopes,  her  plans,  her 
wishes,  her  triumphs,  and  perhaps  her  disappointments  ? 
Must  she  for  this  deny  the  cordial  interest  which  she  had 
once  felt  for  me,  and  deny  it  at  a  time  when  all  my  friends 
crowded  around  to  help  me  with  word  and  deed,  and  when 
she  had  nothing  for  me  but  two  or  three  lines  which  she 
wrote  from  Rome,  containing  scarcely  anything  but  the  ex- 
pression of  a  sympathy  which  in  such  cases  is  felt  by  mere 
acquaintances  ? 

I -had  become  a  stranger  to  her,  that  was  plain  ;  or  I  should 
have  heard  her  sweet  consoling  voice  in  the  dark  hours  that 
followed  Hermine's  death.  And  she  had  grown  a  stranger 
to  me  :  I  scarcely  knew  more  of  her  than  did  the  indifferent 
crowd  that  stood  before  her  pictures  at  the  exhibition.  I 
knew  as  little  as  they  why  she,  whose  fresh  venturous  power 
had  charmed  and  astonished  every  one  in  her  first  pictures, 
now  for  a  long  time  seemed  only  to  take  pleasure  in  melan- 
choly themes — in  views  in  the  most .  desolate  parts  of  the 
Campagna,  where  sad-featured  peasants  watched  their  goats 
among  the  ruins  of  long-past  splendor  ;  in  scenes  upon  the 
Calabrian  coast  where  a  burning  sun  glowed  pitilessly  be- 
tween the  bare  pointed  rocks,  and  the  solitude  and  desertion 
seemed  to  sink  into  the  beholder's  soul.  How  did  the  choice 
of  such  subjects,  and  the  strangely  serious,  even  gloomy 
coloring,  agree  with  the  cheerful  frame  of  mind  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  doctor's  report,  she  continually  enjoyed  ? 

"  Only  one  who  is  deeply  unhappy  can  paint  thus,"  I  once 
heard  a  lady  dressed  in  mourning  remark  to  her  companion, 
as  they  stood  before  one  of  these  pictures. 

"  Of  late  her  pictures  have  shown  a  great  falling-off,"  said 
a  critic  whose  judgment  carried  great  weight  in  the  city. 
"  Such  pictures  please,  because  they  flatter  a  certain  leaning 
towaids  pessimism  which  belongs  to  most  men  of  our  time ; 
but  all  largeness  of  conception  and  treatment  is  wanting.  I 
might  say  here  is  an  egotistic  sorrow  which  is  forcibly  im- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  6^^ 

posed  upon  nature.  The  execution,  too,  leaves  much  to  be 
desired  :  look  here,  and  here  " — and  the  critic  p>ointed  to 
several  places  which  he  pronounced  weak.  "  But  her  younger 
brother  is  a  genius  indeed,"  he  went  on.  "  Have  you  seen 
his  aquarelles 7  Heavens!  what  fire  and  what  life!  And 
he  is  still  little  more  than  a  boy  they  say.  He  will  be  at  the 
top  of  the  tree  before  long,  mind  my  words." 

It  seemed  that  the  public  did  not  altogether  agree  with  the 
critic  in  his  estimation  of  Paula's  talents ;  at  all  events  they 
fairly  fought  for  her  pictures,  and  paid  the  highest  prices  for 
them.  I,  for  my  part,  did  not  trust  myself  to  form  a  judg- 
ment, and  in  fact  I  had  none  ;  I  only  knew  that  if  Paula  en- 
joyed such  unbroken  happiness  and  cheerfulness  as  the  doc- 
tor reported,  she  gave  this  cheerfulness  the  strangest  expres- 
sion in  the  world. 

The  conversation  in  which  the  doctor  informed  me  that 
Paula  and  her  mother  were  staying  at  Meran,  took  place  in 
February,  nearly  two  years  after  my  misfortunes.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  summer  I  heard  again  from  him  that  she  was 
making  sketching  excursions  in  the  Salzkammergut  and 
Tyrol,  and  somewhat  later,  that  she  would  pass  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  in  Thiiringen. 

"  She  keeps  coming  nearer,  nearer,  all  the  time,"  said  the 
doctor  ;  "  will  you  not  now  undertake  your  long-planned  trip 
to  England  ?" 

"  It  seems,"  said  I,  looking  straight  into  the  doctor's  spec- 
tacles, "  that  you  think  I  ought  to  celebrate  Paula's  return 
by  my  own  absence." 

"  I  do  not  see  how  you  arrive  at  this  singular  conclusion," 
said  the  doctor. 

"  Nor  do  I  see  how  otherwise  to  interpret  your  suggestion 
that  I  should  go  away  when  Paula  comes." 

"  Your  wits  are  certainly  wandering,"  he  answered. 

A  few  weeks  later  he  surprised  me  with  the  news  that  he 
thought  of  taking  a  journey  the  next  morning  to  J.,  the 
Thuringian  town  in  which  Paula  was  staying.  Her  health 
seemed  to  be  not  so  good  as  he  could  wish,  though  it  was 
true  her  letters  were  as  cheerful  as  usual — here  the  doctor 
made  a  motion  toward  his  breast-pocket — but  he  would 
rather  see  her  for  himself ;  it  was  but  a  "  cat's  jump,"  and 
he  thought  of  returning  the  next  day. 


678  Hammer  and  AnviL 

"  Bring  her  back  with  you,"  I  said  ;  "  perhaps  she  would 
like  to  stay  awhile  here  again." 

The  doctor  looked  at  me  fixedly. 

"  I  would  very  gladly  do  you  and  her  the  pleasure  of  being 
absent  when  she  returns,"  I  continued  ;  "  but  I  really  can 
not  now  well  leave  the  works  for  any  length  of  time  ;  and 
perhaps  it  will  be  sufficient  if  you  tell  her,  doctor,  that  I  have 
suffered  much  in  the  last  twelve  months,  and  also  learned 
much  ;  for  example,  to  use  your  own  expression,  my  friend, 
to  live  with  half  a  heart.     Will  you  tell  her  that  ?" 

I  had  done  my  best  to  speak  as  firmly  as  possible,  but 
could'  not  prevent  my  voice  from  trembling  a  little  at  the  last 
words,  and  my  hand  also  trembled,  which  the  doctor  held 
fast  between  both  his  own  small  and  delicate  hands,  while  he 
looked  steadfastly  into  my  face  through  his  round  spectacle- 
glasses.  I 

"  Will  you  .''"  I  repeated,  a  little  confused. 

"  I  certainly  will  not ! "  exclaimed  the  doctor,  suddenly 
dropping  my  hand,  pushing  me  back  into  the  chair  from 
which  I  had  risen,  and  walking  in  an  agitated  manner  up 
and  down  the  room  ;  then  suddenly  stopping  before  me,  he 
crowed  in  his  shrillest  tones  : 

"  I  certainly  will  not !  I  am  sick  of  this  game  of  hide-and- 
seek,  and  out  it  must  come,  happen  what  may.  Do  you 
know,  sir,  or  do  you  not  know,  that  Paula  loves  you  'i  Do 
you  know,  or  do  you  not  know,  that  she  has  loved  you  for 
ten  years  ?  that  she  has  loved  you  from  the  hour  when  you 
saved  her  father  from  the  axe  of  that  murderous  scoundrel 
— I  can't  remember  his  name.  That  with  this  love  for  you 
she  has  grown  from  the  half  child  you  first  knew  her,  to 
womanhood  ?  and  that  from  that  time  there  has  been  no 
hour  of  her  life  when  she  has  not  loved  you,  and  certainly 
most  of  all  at  the  times  when  she  has  seemed  to  love  you 
least — for  example  at  the  time  when  you,  you  brainless 
mammoth,  were  fancying  she  was  captivated  by  Arthur,  who 
was  tormenting  her  about  you,  and  asking  whether  it  was 
right  and  fair  for  the  daughter  of  a  prison-superintendent  to 
make  an  inexperienced  young  man,  condemned  to  only 
seven  years'  imprisonment,  a  prisoner  for  life  ?  Have  you 
any  idea  what  it  cost  the  poor  girl  to  conceal  her  love  from 
you  ?     What  it  cost  her  to  play  the  part  of  a  sister  and  only 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


679 


a  sister  towards  you,  that  you  might  remain  unfettered  to 
grasp  boldly  at  whatever  was  highest  and  fairest  in  the 
world,  and  be  able  to  mount  the  ladder  upon  whose  topmost 
round  the  high-spirited  girl  wished  to  see  the  man  she 
loved  ?  What  it  cost  her  to  send  you  to  Zehrendorf  to  win 
the  bride  she  had  destined  for  you  ?  What  it  cost  her  to 
turn  a  smiling  face  upon  your  happiness  !  And  finally,  what, 
it  cost  her  not  to  hasten  to  you  in  your  misfortunes,  not  to 
be  able  to  say  to  you  :  '  Here,  take  my  Hfe,  my  soul — all,  all 
is  yours  ? '  I  ask  you  for  the  last  time,  do  you  know  this, 
sir,  or  do  you  not  ?  "  In  his  excitement  the  doctor's  voice 
had  reached  a  pitch  from  which  all  tuning  down  was  impos- 
sible. He  did  not  even  make  the  attempt,  but  instead,  tore 
off  his  spectacles,  stared  angrily  at  me  with  his  sparkling 
brown  eyes,  put  on  his  glasses  again,  crammed  his  hat  upon 
his  flushed  skull  until  it  covered  his  ears,  turned  abruptly 
upon  his  heel  and  made  for  the  door. 

In  two  strides  I  overtook  him. 

"  Doctor,"  I  said,  catching  him  by  the  arm,  "  how  would  it 
do  if  you  let  me  go  to-morrow  in  your  place  ?  " 

"  Do  whatever  you  like  !  "  he  cried,  running  out  of  the 
room  and  banging  the  door  behind  him. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THERE  come  days  in  our  lives  which  we  afterwards 
remember    as    some   blessed    dream   which    knows 
nothing  of  earthly  sufferings  or  earthly  restrictions, 
in  which  we  soar  as  on  the  pinions  of  eagles,  strong  and 
high  above  all  the  little  pitiful  obstacles  that  otherwise  so 
lamentably  hamper  our  feet. 

Of  such  dream-like  beauty  was  the  day  on  which  I  took 
the  most  memorable  journey  of  my  life  :  a  wonderful  summer 
day,  whose  glorious  brightness  was  not  marred  by  the  small- 
est cloud,  and  yet  palpitating  in  a  mild  balmy  air  that  played 
around  my  cheeks  and  brow,  while  the  train  whirled  in  rat- 
tling speed  through  the  lovely  Thilringian  country.     It  was 


68o  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

the  first  journey  I  had  made  in  my  life,  at  least  the  first 
that  was  not  a  business  trip,  and  the  first  also  that  took  me 
from  my  northern  home  into  the  sunny  plains  of  Middle  Ger- 
many. The  novelty  of  the  scenery  probably  helped  to  make 
everything  appear  to  me  doubly  graceful  and  lovely  :  I  could 
not  satiate  myself  with  gazing  at  the  soft  undulating  lines  of 
the  hills  ;  at  the  sharply-defined  crags  whose  summits  were 
crowned  with  ruined  fortresses  and  ancient  keeps,  and  whose 
feet  were  laved  by  the  clear  water  of  winding  rivers  ;  at  the 
flowing  meadow-lands  in  which  lines  of  trees  with  foliage  of 
brightest  green  marked  the  courses  of  the  streams  ;  at  the 
cities  and  towns  that  lay  so  peacefully  in  the  valley^  and  at 
the  little  villages  that  nestled  so  cosily  among  the  trees.  It 
was  not  Sunday,  but  all  these  things  wore  a  Sunday  look, 
even  the  men  who  were  working  alone  in  the  fields  and  stop- 
ped to  look  as  the  train  rushed  by,  or  those  gathered  in  the 
neat  stations  where  we  stopped.  It  was  as  if  everybody  was 
travelling  only  for  pleasure,  and  that  even  taking  farewell 
was  not  painful  on  such  a  lovely  day.  And  then  the  meet- 
ings of  friends — the  happy  faces,  the  hand-shaking  and  kiss- 
ing and  embracing !  Every  one  of  these  scenes  I  watched 
with  the  liveliest  interest,  and  always  with  a  feeling  of 
emotion,  as  if  I  had  a  portion  in  it  myself 

Thus  I  arrived  in  the  afternoon  at  E.,  where  I  quitted  the 
railroad  and  engaged  a  carriage  from  a  number  that  were  at 
the  station  to  take  me  the  remaining  distance.  We  soon 
left  the  level  land  and  entered  a  valley  through  which  the 
road  to  "  the  forest  "  ran  in  many  windings  between  hills  on 
either  side.  The  journey  lasted  several  hours,  and  the  sun 
was  already  declining  as  we  slowly  toiled  up  a  mountain  the 
steepest  of  all,  "  but  the  last,"  said  the  driver.  We  had  both 
descended  and  were  walking  on  either  side  the  large  and  power- 
ful horses,  and  keeping  the  flies  off  them  with  pine  branches. 

"  Woa  !  "  cried  the  driver  ;  the  horses  stopped. 

We  had  reached  the  summit,  and  stopped  to  let  the  horses 
blow  a  little. 

"  That  is  our  pride,"  said  the  man,  as  I  looked  with  aston- 
ishment at  a  primeval  and  gigantic  oak  which  grew  here  in 
an  open  space  in  the  heart  of  the  pine  forest,  and  spread  its 
gnarled  and  weather-beaten  boughs  far  up  against  the  blue  sky. 

"  That  is  a  great  curiosity,"  he  went  on.     "  People  come 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  68 1. 

from  miles  and  miles  to  see  that  tree ;  and  it  has  been  painted 
I  don't  know  how  often.  Not  many  days  ago  a  young  lady, 
who  has  been  staying  with  us  a  few  weeks,  came  here  and 
made  a  picture  of  it.  I  drove  her  here  myself ;  I  often  drive 
her  about." 

Absorbed  in  my  own  thoughts  hitherto,  I  had,  contrary  to 
my  usual  custom,  spoken  but  little  with  the  man,  and  indeed 
scarcely  noticed  him,  and  now  it  seemed  as  if  he  and  I  were 
old  acquaintances,  and  had  the  most  intimate  interests  in 
common.  I  asked  him  the  young  lady's  name  ;  not  that  I 
had  any  doubt  that  it  was  Paula,  and  yet  it  was  a  sort  of 
shock  to  me  when  he  pronounced  it,  and  from  his  lips  it 
sounded  strangely.  And  now  the  man,  who-  seemed  to  have 
been  awaiting  his  opportunity,  became  very  communicative, 
and  told  me,  while  we  crossed  the  back  of  the  mountain  and 
descended  in  a  rattling  trot,  a  multitude  of  things  about  the 
charming  young  lady  ;  and  the  old  lady  her  mother,  who  was 
blind,  but  who  recognized  people  at  once  by  the  voice  ;  and 
about  the  old  man,  with  the  hooked  nose  and  long  gray  mous- 
tache and  curly  white  hair,  who  was  really  only  their  servant, 
but  the  ladies  treated  him  as  one  of  themselves  ;  and  yester- 
day a  young  gentleman  had  arrived,  with  a  sunburnt  face  and 
bright  brown  eyes  and  long  brown  hair,  who  was  the  young 
lady's  brother,  and  a  painter  too. 

The  carriage  was  clattering  over  the  rough  pavement  of 
the  little  town,  and  the  talkative  fellow  was  still  chattering 
about  Paula  and  the  rest.  I  had  told  him  that  I  had  come 
on  purpose  to  see  that  lady,  and  that  he  must  put  me  down 
at  the  inn  at  which  he  told  me  she  was  staying. 

The  carriage  stopped.  The  head-waiter  with  two  small 
myrmidons^  rushed  out ;  two  boys  who  saw  a  chance  of  their 
services  being  called  into  requisition  as  guides  came  up  to 
have  a  look  at  the  strange  gentleman.  Concealing  my  agi- 
tation, I  asked  the  head-waiter  if  I  could  have  a  room,  and 
if  either  of  the  guests  was  at  home. 

I  could  have  a  room,  he  said,  but  neither  of  the  guests 
was  at  home :  the  lady  and  the  young  gentleman  had  gone 
out  for  a  walk,  and  the  young  lady  had  started  for  the  moun- 
tains with  Herr  Sussmilch  early  in  the  afternoon  :  she  went 
into  the  mountains  every  afternoon :  she  painted  up  there,  and 
hardly  ever  came  back  until  after  sundown. 
29* 


682  Hammer  mid  Anvil. 

"  Do  you  know  the  place  ?" 

"  Certainly  ;  perfectly  well :  this  boy  heje  has  carried  the 
lady's  things  there  often  enough.  Say,  Carl,  you  know  where 
the  lady  goes  to  paint?" 

"  To  be  sure,"  said  the  boy.  "  Shall  I  take  the  gentleman 
there?"  | 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  and  turned  to  start  at  once. 

"  You  need  not  be  in  any  hurry,  sir,"  the  attentive  head- 
waiter  called  after  me ;  "  you  will  reach  the  place  in  half  an 
hour.^' 

My  little  guide  ran  on  ahead,  and  I  followed  him  along 
the  main  street  of  the  little  town,  planted  with  lindens,  with 
groups  of  travellers  seated  here  and  there  before  the  doors, 
and  reached  the  fields  upon  which  still  lay  the  golden  even- 
ing light,  and  then  entered  the  cool  twilight  of  the  woods. 
We  pursued  the  wide  road  which  ascended  the  mountains  by 
a  steep  acclivity  for  the  most  part,  but  occasionally  ran  along 
small  level  glades,  and  was  elsewhere  inclosed  on  both  sides 
by  the  tall  forest  trees.  It  was  wonderfully  quiet  in  the  cool 
pines  :  no  breeze  stirred,  scarcely  was  the  silence  broken  at 
rare  intervals  by  the  chirp  of  a  bird :  the  blue  sky  looked 
down  from  above,  and  I  felt  as  if  the  path  climbed  up  to 
heaven. 

No  one  met  us  on  the  way  ;  only  when  we  were  almost  at 
the  summit  and  had  turned  to  the  right  from  the  main  road 
into  the  wood  and  reached  an  open  space  where  stood  a  sort 
of  hunting-lodge,  I  saw  a  couple  of  men  who  were  sitting 
upon  benches  with  mugs  of  beer  in  their  hands.  Out  of  the 
wood,  directly  opposite  the  spot  at  which  we  had  entered  the 
clearing,  came  a  man  followed  by  a  boy  carrying  an  easel 
and  other  painter's  apparatus.  I  recognized  the  sergeant  at 
once  ;  and  my  little  guide  said  that  the  boy  who  was  carry- 
ing the  things  was  his  brother  Hans,  and  that  they  were 
coming  from  the  place  where  the  lady  used  to  paint.  This 
place  was  only  five  minutes  walk  distant,  and  we  had  only  to 
follow  the  way  by  which  the  sergeant  and  Hans  had  just 
come. 

My  old  friend,  who  was  talking  in  a  rather  animated  man- 
ner to  the  boy,  who  probably  was  not  carrying  the  things 
carefully  enougla  to  please  him,  had  not  observed  me,  and  I 
was  glad  of  it,  for  I  felt  that  I  was  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  6S^ 

talk  with  him.  So  I  gave  my  guide  a  sign  to  wait  for  me  ; 
and  crossed  the  clearing  towards  the  path  he  had  pointed 
out. 

It  was  a  broad  path,  overgrown  with  short  green  grass 
upon  which  the  foot  fell  noiselessly,  and  the  pines  on  both 
sides  were  of  such  growth  that  their  branches  almost  en- 
tirely roofed  it  in,  so  that  only  here  and  there  the  red  sunset 
glow  pierced  to  the  green  twilight.  It  gradually  but  contin- 
ually ascended,  and  I  walked  on,  not  even  conscious  that  I 
was  walking  or  moving  my  limbs,  as  one  ascends  heights  in 
a  dream.  A  breathless  expectation,  a  joyful  fear  possessed 
me  wholly.  Thus  might  an  immortal  spirit  feel  which  is 
about  to  enter  the  presence  of  its  judge,  and  with  all  its  timid 
hesitation,  knows  still  that  this  judge  is  mercy  itself 

And  now  it  grew  lighter  and  more  open  with  every  step, 
and  I  passed  out  of  the  forest  upon  the  crest  of  the  moun- 
tain, which  to  my  right  hand  rose  to  a  mighty  height,  while 
westwardly,  to  the  left,  it  sloped  away  to  a  deep  valley,  over 
which  I  could  see  far-distant  mountain  terraces  rising  slope 
above  purple  slope,  against  the  evening  sky.  The  sun  had 
set,  but  its  radiance  still  lay  calm  upon  the  light  clouds  which 
floated  over  the  mountain,  and  a  few  paces  from  me,  bathed 
in  the  roseate  light  reflected  from  the  clouds,  stood  a  female 
figure  by  a  mossy  rock  upon  which  she  leaned  her  right  arm, 
while  her  left  hand  with  her  broad  straw  hat  hung  idly  by 
her  side.  She  was  looking  fixedly  at  the  sunset  sky,  and  her 
features  were  clearly  defined  against  the  bright  background. 
Thus  I  saw  her  once  more. 

But  she  neither  saw  me  nor  heard  me,  for  the  soft  grass 
muffled  my  steps.  I  wished  to  call  her  by  name,  but  could 
not ;  and  now  she  slowly  turned  her  face  towards  me  and 
looked  at  me  with  wide  fixed  eyes  and  unmoving  features,  as 
though  I  were  an  apparition  which  she  had  long  yearned  to 
behold,  and  which  the  might  of  her  longings  had  summoned 
before  her.  But  as  I  spread  my  arms,  saying,  "  Paula,  dear- 
est Paula  ! "  a  heavenly  light  flashed  into  her  lovely ,face,  a 
faint  cry  broke  from  her  lips,  and  she  lay  upon  my  breast 
with  a  storm  of  passionate  tears,  as  if  all  the  sorrows  she 
had  borne  all  these  long  years  had  burst  forth  in  one 
moment. 

What  I  said,  what  she  said,  while  we  stood  on  the  moun- 


684  Hammer  and  Anvil. 

tain  ridge,  while  streak  after  streak  of  the  rosy  light  faded 
out  of  the  sky,  I  cannot  now  recall. 

And  then  we  went  back  hand  in  hand  through  the  silent 
wood,  by  another  way  than  that  by  which  I  had  come;  a 
way  that  at  first  led  over  a  grassy  slope  directly  down  the 
mountain,  so  that  we  could  still  see  the  valley  in  the  faint 
evening  light,  and  then  under  high  beeches  where  it  was 
quite  dark,  so  that  Paula  held  firmly  to  my  hand  until  we 
came  upon  open  spaces  and  the  valley  lay  before  us  again, 
now  dim  in  gray  twilight,  so  that  I  thought  the  descent  must 
be  longer  than  the  ascent,  and  yet  it  was  so  short — so  short ! 
What  did  it  matter  ?  I  knew  that  with  her  who  was  leading 
me  down  the  dim  mountain  path  I  would  walk  henceforth 
hand-in-hand  so  long  as  we  both  lived  upon  earth  ;  and  an 
inward  prayer  rose  in  my  soul  that  her  last  day  might  be 
mine  also. 

And  now  I  see  ourselves — that  is  our  mother,  Paula,  Oscar 
and  myself — seated  at  a  table  in  one  of  the  arbors  in  front 
of  the  inn,  and  the  light  of  the  lamp  in  its  glass  shade  falls 
mildly  on  the  gentle  features  of  the  blind  lady  who  from  time 
to  time  lays  her  soft  hand  upon  mine,  and  on  Paula's  dear 
face  that  beams  with  a  lovely  radiance  from  her  inward  hap- 
piness, and  upon  the  beautiful  young  features  of  Oscar, 
whose  dark  eyes  glow  while  he  tells  how  a  young  English 
nobleman  whose  acquaintance  he  made  at  Rome  has  given 
him  a  grand  commission  to  paint  a  series  of  frescoes  in  his 
castle  in  the  Highlands,  and  how  before  he  sets  out  there,  he 
had  to  come  after  his  sister  to  get  some  advice  from  her ; 
and  then  the  youth  tosses  back  his  long  hair,  and  lifts  a  full 
glass  and  drinks  it  off  to  our  health,  and  the  mother  smiles 
gently  upon  us,  and  as  our  glasses  clink  together  there  ap- 
pears in  an  opening  in  the  trellis  that  head  with  the  gray 
moustache  and  white  hair  which  played  so  important  a  part 
in  the  history  of  art. 

Then  I  am  standing  at  the  open  window  of  my  room, 
listening  to  the  rustling  of  the  west  wind  in  the  branches 
and  the  plashing  of  the  fountain  before  the  inn,  and  my  gaze 
is  fixed  upon  a  star  that  beams  brighter  than  all  the  rest  in 
the  nightly  sky. 

And  the  old  sadness  awakens  once  more  in  my  heart, 
and  my  eyes  fill  with  tears. 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  685 

But  when  I  look  again,  the  star  is  beaming  more  brightly 
than  ever,  as  if  it  were  an  eye  looking  lovingly  down  and 
sending  me  greeting  from  the  abodes  of  the  blest. 


-o- 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

IN  this  history  of  my  life  I  have  now  reached  the  point  at 
which  from  the  first  I  intended  to  close  the  narrative. 
To  be  sure  I  said  to  myself  then,  and  still  must  admit, 
that  in  this  way  I  shall  not  give  contentment  to  all.  One 
will  find  that  there  is  a  certain  regular  and  not  unsatisfactory 
progress  in  the  story,  and  that  he.  would  not  object  to  read  a 
few  hundred  pages  further,  if  no  better  entertainment  was  at 
hand  ;  another  will  maintain  that  according  to  his  experience 
(this  is  a  man  of  great  experience)  life  begins  to  be  truly  in- 
teresting exactly  at  the  point  at  which  I  cut  short  my  stor}'. 
Youthful  adventures,  he  says,  are  like  the  maladies  of  chil- 
dren ;  every  one  must  have  them,  sooner  or  later,  and  there- 
fore there  is  nothing  of  special  interest  about  them  ;  only 
when  the  perfectly  developed  man  takes  his  position  in  pub- 
lic life,  and  undertakes  his  share  in  solving  the  problem  of 
the  age,  or  when  he,  as  a  private  man,  has  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  proving  his  character  in  those  conflicts  which  are 
never  wanting  in  wedded  life,  and  in  the  relations  of  parent 
to  children,  which  always  present  trials  and  difficulties — then 
only  is  it  worth  while  to  follow  the  story  of  a  life. 

Profoundly  do  I  feel  the  weighty  nature  of  these  criticisms ; 
but  I  had  once  for  all  made  up  my  mind  not  to  be  guided  by 
the  wish  to  please  this  one  or  that — nor,  indeed,  to  please 
any,  as  it  would  now  appear — and  to  the  one  I  can  reply  that 
with  the  least  possible  trouble  he  can  find  a  far  more  amus- 
ing book  to  while  away  his  leisure  hours  ;  and  as  to  the  other 
(the  man  of  great  experience)  with  the  best  will  in  the  world 
I  cannot  possibly  satisfy  his  great  requirements,  though  I 
freely  admit  that  he  has  a  perfect  right  to  make  them.  Did 
I  wish  to  make  my  story  ever  so  interesting,  I  could  find 
nothing  to  tell  of  conflicts  in  wedded  life,  nor  of  domestic 
trials  and  difficulties — or  nothing  that  would  be  worth  the 


6S6 


Ha7jimer  and  Anvil. 


telling  ;  and  if  I — as  I  sometimes  flatter  myself  in  moments 
of  peculiar  elation  and  self-satisfaction — have  done  an  hon- 
est day's  work  at  the  great  task  of  our  time,  and  all  things 
considered,  have  approved  myself  no  despicable  workman,  I 
would  not  willingly  anticipate  my  wages  ;  and  I  think  that 
there  will  in  due  time,  perhaps,  be  found  a  good  friend,  who, 
either  in  an  elegant  epitaph,  or  an  elaborate  obituary  notice 
in  the  newspapers,  will  award  me  my  meed  of  praise  in  well- 
chosen  words. 

But  in  earnest,  dear  reader,  who  have  grown  to  be  my 
friend,  or  you  would  not  have  read  on  so  far — you  for  whom 
alone  I  have  written,  and  for  whom  alone  I  write  this  closing 
chapter — in  earnest  I  think  it  will  be  agreeable  to  both  of  us 
if  I  break  off  here.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  are  a  crafts- 
man initiated  into  our  art  and  mystery ;  and  this  is  what  I 
should  have  to  know  in  order  to  narrate  to  you  the  life  of  a 
craftsman,  such  as  I  am,  in  such  a  way  that  in  the  one  case 
it  would  be  satisfactory  to  you,  and  in  the  other  not  too 
wearisome :  indeed  I  do  not  even  know  whether  you  may 
not  be  a  lady,  who,  despite  your  excessive  amiability  and 
general  loveliness,  with  all  your  other  accomplishments  have 
no  especial  fondness  for  the  discussion  of  technical  matters, 
and  who,  for  the  care  with  which  I  have  hitherto  limited  my- 
self to  merely  touching  the  edge  of  these  obscurities  and 
mysteries,  have  given  me  hearty  thanks — thanks  which  for 
much  I  would  not  forfeit  now. 

As  I  say,  I  know  none  of  these  things  ;  but  one  thing  I 
know,  and  that  is  that  you — to  borrow  the  phrase  of  good 
Professor  Lederer — are  a  human  being,  to  whom  nothing 
that  concerns  humanity  is  alien  ;  and  as  I  have  hitherto,  I 
trust,  only  told  you  what  found  a  ready  response  in  your 
sympathies,  because  it  concerned  a  man  who  was  neither  bet- 
ter nor  worse,  wiser  nor  more  foolish,  more  interesting  nor 
more  common-place,  than  the  average  of  his  kind,  and  whose 
thoughts  and  feelings,  whose  aims  and  endeavors,  even  whose 
errors  you  could  readily  understand,  so  I  think  you,  as  a  good 
man  and  my  friend,  must  feel  why  I  ask  you  to  depict  for 
yourself  the  rest  of  my  life's  history,  in  accordance  with 
your  friendly  sympathy  and  amiable  imagination,  in  bright 
and  cheerful  colors. 

And  the  words  "  bright  and  cheerful  "  you  may  take  liter- 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  687 

ally,  for — and  I  say  this  with  a  heart  full  of  the  deepest 
gratitude,  and  without  fear  of  "  the  envy  of  the  gods  "  in 
which  I  do  not  believe — there  has  fallen  much,  very  much 
glorious  sunlight  across  the  path  of  my  life.  My  efiforts  have 
been  crowned  with  amplest  success,  far  beyond  my  boldest 
expectations,  and  very  far  beyond  my  modest  pretensions 
and  moderate  wants ;  and,  what  is  of  far  more  importance, 
to  arrive  at  these  results  I  have  never  had  to  deny  the  doc- 
trines of  my  teacher,  never  had  to  be  a  hard  hammer  to  a 
poor  much-tormented  anvil,  on  the  contrary,  I  am  as  sure 
of  it  as  of  my  own  existence  that  I  should  not  only  not  be 
the  cheerful  man  that  I  am,  but  I  should  also  not  be  the  rich 
man  that  I  am,  had  I  not  all  my  life  long  been  a  believer  in 
the  great  and  lovely  doctrine  of  mutual  helpfulness,  brother- 
hood, and  the  community  of  all  human  interests. 

This  living,  active,  and  inspiring  faith  has  brought  me 
blessings  a  hundred  and  a  thousand  fold  ;  and  with  the 
deepest  conviction  I  recommend  it  to  all  who  aim  at  success, 
even  those  who  are  disposed  to  attach  no  especial  value  to 
the  possession  of  a  good  conscience,  and  yet  perhaps  find 
that  this  little  prized  and  contemptible  thing,  if  one  only  has 
it,  contributes  no  little  to  the  happiness  of  life. 

You  will  willingly,  I  doubt  not,  my  friend,  spare  nie  any 
further  exposition  of  these  truths,  since  you  have  found  them 
confirmed  in  your  own  life  ;  and  you  are  quite  ready  to  go 
on  with  the  picture  of  my  life  in  the  way  I  have  indicated, 
and  dispense  with  the  narration  of  further  details  concern- 
ing myself  and  my  family,  the  number  and  ages  of  my  chil- 
dren, and  whether  the  boys  are  strong  and  intelligent,  and  the 
girls  bright  and  handsome — ^you  are  already  disposed  to  heap 
all  those  excellences  upon  their  young  heads,  when  I  simply 
say  that  they  are,  without  exception,  fine  children  ;  but  you 
think  that  what  may  be  sufficient  for  myself,  my  wife,  and  my 
children  (although  these  last  nowhere  appear  in  this  narra- 
tive, and  consequently  have  really  no  just  claims  to  any  con- 
sideration), what  may  be  sufficient  for  us,  is  in  no  wise  just 
to  the  other  persons  who  have  appeared  in  this  story,  and  in 
whose  behalf  you  have  a  right  to  put  forth  decided  claims  ; 
and  you  would  like  before  the  close  to  know  what  has  be- 
come of  them,  to  one  or  the  other  of  whom  you  have  per- 
haps taken  a  fancy. 


688 


Hammer  and  Anvil. 


!  i". 


Many  a  one,  as  you  may  well  suppose,  in  the  five  and  twenty 
years  that  have  passed  has  been  taken  away  by  death,  whom 
neither  entreaties  nor  exertions  can  compel  to  relinquish  his 
prey,  however  desperately  the  survivors  try  to  hold  fast  in 
their  hands  the  vanishing  threads  of  a  life  so  dear. 

Thus  you  departed,  dearest  and  best  of  mothers,  and  were 
changed  for  us  into  a  luminous  picture  of  gentleness,  kind- 
ness and  patience,  and  at  the  same  time  of  calm,  strong, 
self-sacrificing  courage,  to  which  we  have  at  all  times  been 
wont  to  turn  with  devotion,  as  to  that  of  your  noble  husband, 
and  from  whose  memory  we  have  often  drawn  counsel  and 
comfort. 

And  you  too,  brave  old  sergeant,  faithful  heart  of  gold, 
you  too  left  us,  full  of  years,  highly  honored,  and  deeply 
wept,  and  by  none  more  deeply  than  our  boys  whom  you 
taught  to  ride  and  to  fence,  and  to  speak  the  truth,  happen 
what  might. 

And  you  also,  dear  good  Hans,  last  of  an  ancient  race  of 
heroes  !  Be  not  vexed  with  me,  dear  friend,  if  I  have  allowed 
myself  now  and  then  a  sportive  word  at  the  quaint  ways 
that  clung  to  you  as  long  as  your  massive  frame  threw  its 
broad  shadow  upon  the  ground.  Believe  me,  despite  all,  no 
one  ever  loved  you  as  I  loved  you,  perhaps  because  no  one 
was  ever  so  near  to  you  as  I,  and  no  one  had  the  chance  of 
knowing  how  not  one  drop  of  faithless  blood  ever  coursed 
through  your  great  noble  heart,  and  how  from  crown  to  heel 
you  were  a  true  knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach. 

You  too,  enthusiastic  friend  with  the  fantastic  ways,  with 
the  affected  speech,  and  with  sincere  love  in  your  soft  and 
gentle  soul,  kindly  Fraulein  Duff!  I  thank  you  for  allowing 
us  to  have  the  care  of  your  declining  years  ;  and  though  your 
ardent  wish  to  see  all  our  daughters,  your  pupils,  married  be- 
fore your  death,  was  not  fulfilled,  I  think  you  still  lived  to 
find  what  your  loving  and  affectionate  heart  had  sought  so 
faithfully. 

Ah  !  yes;  the  ranks  of  the  dear  old  familiar  faces  have  been 
sadly  thinned  ;  but  we  will  be  thankful  that  so  many  are  still 
left  us,  so  many  whom  we  never  could  replace. 

For  who  could  replace  you,  my  brave  Klaus,  best  of  all 
foremen,  and  yourself  head-foreman  after  the  worthy  Roland 
with  his  smile  under  his  bushy  beard  had  himself  vanished 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  689 

into  that  primeval  forest  from  which  no  one  has  ever  yet 
emerged,  any  more  than  all  the  treasures  of  the  archipelago 
which  your  Javanese  aunt  was  to  bring,  could  replace  your 
Christel,  or  your  eight  boys,  who,  since  as  boys  they  cannot 
compare  with  their  mother,  try  their  best  to  be  as  like  her 
as  possible,  and  have  all  her  blue  Hollander's  eyes  and 
blond  hair.  The  old  Javanese  aunt  has  not  made  her  ap- 
pearance yet,  and  I  am  afraid  she  never  will.  But  I  fancy 
you  have  long  forgiven  her  this  misbehavior  ;  and  only  once 
were  you  really  angry  with  her,  and  that  was  at  the  time  when 
for  your  friend  George  fifty  thousand  thalers  more  or  less 
were  a  matter  of  salvation  or  ruin,  and  when  you  besought 
heaven  to  send  you  the  aunt  quickly,  even  though  she  were 
an  uncle. 

And  a  few  other  friends  are  left  still,  and  will  remain,  if 
it  be  heaven's  will,  awhile  longer,  though  one  of  them  at 
least  has  been  expecting  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  every  day  for 
the  last  fifty  years 

"  No,  no,  doctor  ;  I  will  not  finish  the  shameful  sentence. 
You  fly  at  once  into  your  altitudes  that  I  should  mention 
you  in  my  book,  as  if  the  history  of  my  life  could  be  any- 
thing but  the  history  of  my  life,  and  assert  that  after  you 
have  worn  an  honorable  baldness  for  half  a  century,  I  make 
a  child's  jest  of  you  at  last,  and  you  can  no  longer  show 
yourself  upon  the  street.  Scold  as  much  as  you  like,  doctor, 
and  in  the  topmost  notes  of  your  highest  register,  if  you  like  ; 
I  understand  you,  and  know  that  you  will  tune  yourself  down 
again  presently  ;  and  I  further  know  that  if  everybody  does 
not  take  off  his  hat  to  you  on  the  street,  it  is  because  every- 
body does  not  know  you." 

"  And  I  do  not  wish  to  be  known,"  cries  the  doctor,  "  nor 
to  be  exhibited  to  the  public  as  a  curiosity  of  natural  history, 
least  of  all  by  you  who  have  always  seen  me  in  a  false  light 
— if  indeed  a  mammoth  like  you  can  see  anything  in  the 
right  light.  If  I  am  to  have  my  portrait  taken,  it  shall  be 
by  your  wife,  who  ought  to  be  ashamed,  by  the  way,  to  neg- 
lect her  noble  art  so,  out  of  mere  idolatry  of  you  and  of  her 
children — or  else  by  Oscar.  Apropos,  will  you  not  include 
in  your  book  a  thorough  analysis  of  all  Oscar's  paintings,  or 
at  least  of  his  chief  works,  and  thus  cover  yourself  with  ridi- 
cule, as  you  really  know  nothing  whatever  about  art  ?  or  will 


6go  '        Hammer  and  Anvil. 

you  not  set  forth  in  detail  all  that  Kurt  has  accomplished  in 
our  railroad  undertakings,  and  his  inventions  in  various  de- 
partments of  machinery,  and  so,  as  he  is  modesty  itself, 
cover  him  with  a  garment  of  confusion  ?  Or  will  you  not 
denounce  Benno  to  the  government  because  his  agricultural 
school  at  Zehrendorf  which  grows  and  flourishes  so  quietly, 
is  a  formidable  rival  to  the  official  country  institutes  ? " 

"  Scold  away,  doctor  :  you  have  not  an  idea  how  admira- 
bly all  you  say  fits  into  my  last  chapter.  I  should  like  to 
let  you  have  the  last  word  there,  as  everywhere  else." 

"  That  was  all  that  was  wanting  !  "  cried  the  doctor  in 
wrath,  and  ran  out  of  the  door,  the  last  of  our  guests. 

-This  scene  happened  yesterday  evening,  and  I  said  to 
Paula,  "  Was  it  not  a  happy  idea  to  leave  the  last  word  to  my 
best,  oldest,  dearest  friend,  to  whom  I  owed  more  than  I 
could  ever  find  woids  to  say." 

"  I  could  never  know  which  was  to  be  the  last  touch  in  my 
pictures  until  I  had  given  it,"  said  Paula  :  "  perhaps  it  will 
be  the  same  way  with  your  book." 

To-day,  thinking  it  over  in  the  early  dawn,  I  find  that 
Paula  was  right.  I  feel  that  I  must  close,  and  yet  have  the 
feeling  that  I  must  not  stop  yet ;  that  I  have  forgotten  or 
omitted  something,  I  know  not  what ;  that  I  owe  the  reader, 
despite  my  solemn  disallowance  erewhile,  information  on  a 
multitude  of  points. 

For  example,  how  it  happens  that  I  am  sitting  at  my 
writing  table  "  in  the  early  dawn,"  after  having,  as  it 
seems,  a  little  company  of  friends  with  me  yesterday  even- 
ing :  have  I  then  been  writing  all  night  until  morning  over- 
took me  ? 

Nothing  of  the  sort.  The  early  dawn,  that  is  to  say,  four 
o'clock  in  winter,  and  in  midsummer,  as  now,  often  two 
o'clock,  has  for  years  found  me  in  my  office,  reading,  calcula- 
ting, drawing,  and  now,  since  I  have  had  this  book  on  hand, 
for  the  most  part  writing.  I  have  all  my  life  been  a  good 
sleeper,  so  far  that  my  sleep  is  very  profound  and  mostly 
dreamless :  but  I  have  long  accustomed  myself  to  do  with 
half  the  sleep  that  others  find  indispensable.  The  Doctor 
says  I  have  too  large  a  heart,  like  most  big  good-natured 
fellows  of  rather  limited  intelligence  and  with  broad  shoul- 
ders, whom  nature  has  marked  out  for  carrying  burdens  and 


Hammer  and  Anvil.  691 

playing  the  part  of  anvil ;  but  he  smiles  when  he  says  so,  and 
I  do  not  know  if  he  be  speaking  in  earnest  or  in  jest. 

I  have  been  just  now  standing  at  the  open  window,  after 
extinguishing  the  lamp  by  which  I  have  been  writing.  In 
the  perfectly  cloudless,  light-green,  July  sky  stood  the  sickle 
of  the  waning  moon,  but  the  stars  had  all  faded  from  sight. 
Over  my  window,  just  under  the  eaves,  sat  a  swallow,  and 
sang,  rocking  her  little  head  from  side  to  side  and  looking 
towards  the  east  where  the  sun  would  presently  rise.  I  have 
never  heard  a  sweeter  song,  and  even  now  while  I  write  its 
melody  fills  my  whole  soul.  P>om  one  of  the  tall  chimneys 
of  the  factory,  whose  main  building  turns  its  front  towards 
the  villa,  arose  a  column  of  dense  smoke  springing  slender 
and  straight  as  a  pine-shaft  high  into  the  clear  air.  There 
is  a  great  casting  to  be  made  to-day,  and  Klaus  has  had  his 
furnaces  lighted  early. 

I  see  this  picture,  as  I  have  endeavored  to  describe  it, 
often  and  often  in  the  early  morning,  and  it  always  inspires 
me  with  cheerfulness  and  joy,  and  with  a  thankful  heart  I 
greet  the  rising  sun. 

There  resounds  a  well-known  sound,  a  welcome  clangor — 
the  first  blow  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil ;  the  day  which 
the  swallow  announced  is  here.  Farewell,  my  friend ;  we 
will  both  go  to  our  work. 


THE    END. 


'■§-. 


